The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate
by Uzuki Cheverie
Summary: "You thought that moon was the end of it all? No way. A lot of other things happened too. Lots of battles, lots of grief, lots of blood was spilled . . . and I've seen far more horrific things than that moon. So let me tell you my final story, the story of how I met them - the Reapers. All of this, written within the pages of my Time Gate." - Link Nohansen Hyrule
1. New Home and New Adventures

Hey,

My name is Uzuki Cheverie! Well, that's my nickname that I came up with in the seventh grade at least. Either way, since I came up with the nickname, I've been working on this fanfiction. It was only until I found this website that I decided that I should publish it online for the world to see. I actually have the story halfway finished, for those of you that have been reading this fanfic ever since it was first released in January, 2010 (I thank you for that!). But I have been planning on working on the chapters and resubmitting them, as there are a few chapters that I'm not happy with :( So for those of you who are just starting to read Time Gate, or those of you that have been reading it since the beginning, here's the NEW edited and revised The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate. Please R&R, and enjoy!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate **

**Chapter 1: New Home and New Adventures**

_Death. It's an unwanted thing. Everybody fears Death. It's emotionless, and does not care who it takes. It strikes, and after it has finished its job, it moves on. _

_Forever and ever._

_Death is also something that we cannot escape. No matter what happens, people shall never be immortal. The rules of Death shall always apply. _

_Forever and ever._

_At least, that's what our ancestors believed. . ._

The flames from the lantern illuminated the dark streets of the city, orbs of red and orange flickering about across the ground. The stray fairies of the town flew towards the strange woman walking down the alleyway, their soft little voices echoing like a ghost's cry. Aside from the lantern, the woman was also carrying a box under her arm, gripping it so tightly as if it were the most fragile thing in the world.

The woman finally stopped at a small house. She silently crept towards the mailbox that was across the street from it. Quietly and gently, she put the box inside.

Her ears perked up when she heard a faint sound from around the corner. Footsteps. She had been found. The stray fairies that had been following her began to panic, their little voices becoming high-pitched cries. They could sense the evil that was coming. But as they got closer to her, they soon realized the evil that was surrounding her as well.

"Shh, little ones. . ." the woman whispered, bringing her finger to her lips and patting their heads. They soon realized that this evil being wasn't as evil as the person coming from around the corner, and they calmed themselves.

Suddenly, the lights in the small building turned on. She couldn't be found, not in a place like this, at a time like this. She had to get out fast, before she was found.

She dimmed the lantern, and backed up against the wall, the footsteps getting louder and louder until she knew that the person she was hiding from was just around the corner. She smiled at the fairies, and then placed her hands on the brick wall, her hands and feet glowing as she climbed up the side of the wall like a spider.

Then she spread out her wings, and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

I opened my eyes, awakening myself from the nightmare I was having.

What time was it? I looked at the clock. It was six in the morning, but it was still dark out for some reason.

Then I heard footsteps.

_Crap, not again,_ I thought.I sighed, and got out of bed.

"Good morning, Link!" came a loud laugh. The huge man leaped onto the bed, kicking the pillow on my bed with his steel-toed boot, attempting to wake me from my 'sleep'. He blinked in confusion, and then he jumped off the bed and then onto the floor. "Link?" He pulled the blankets off the bed to see four pillows arranged to look like my body.

"What kind of sick twisted bastard are you?" I screamed at him, closing the door from where I was hiding against the wall. He looked at me with widened eyes. "First, I have to worry about you attacking me during the day, but now at night? That's low, even for you, Byrne!" I sprinted towards him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, and tackling him to the hard wood floor.

"Whoa, calm down, I didn't mean it!" Byrne screamed as he hit the floor.

"How could you not mean to sneak in here at six in the morning and attempt to attack me?" Why in the world was I so mad? It was normal for Byrne to attack me. I pretty much had to put up with it, because he was letting me stay with him at his weaponry store, in Clock Town. But this was a chance for me to get back at him for all the times he's tackled me, stepped on my fingers (on purpose) stepped on my _head_ (still, _on purpose) _and pushed me to the ground (did I mention all of this was _on purpose?_)

"Please, have mercy!" Byrne laughed. The only problem was, him being thirty-three, and me being thirteen, he had the upper advantage. He reached out his huge hand and picked me up by the back of my shirt like I was a wet kitten, and then he threw me onto my bed.

"Hey, watch it!" I yelled. "I'm still a kid, so treat me like one!" Byrne splashed a glass of water in my face, making me even angrier.

"Get cleaned up and eat fast, we're going to have lots of visitors today," Byrne mumbled as he went to the door leading to the main area of the store.

"Don't you say that _every_ day?" I snickered, wiping the water off my face. I reached for my green hat that was sitting on my bedpost and put it on my head.

"Today's special. Don't tell me you've forgotten?" He pointed to the calendar hanging on my wall.

I stood up from my bed and went to check the date. Surely enough, circled with a red marker, was the date, December 29th. Two days before the carnival.

"Holy cow, I forgot all about it!" I panicked. "Sorry about that Byrne!"

He laughed and rubbed his fingers through his spiky black hair. "Nice going. You're the Hero of Time, and you can't even keep track of dates? Who are you and what have you done with Link?" Without warning, Byrne picked me up and swung me over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" I yelled, and began pounding his back with my fists. "This is no way to treat the Hero of Time!"

"Oh, suck it up," Byrne muttered. He set me back down on the floor. "Now, go get cleaned up. I'll be waiting for you out in the lobby."

I sighed, still tired from the restless sleep I had. I should have known the carnival was coming up. Every year, around the same time as the carnival, I begin to have nightmares about Majora's Mask, and the terror that it brought to Clock Town three years ago. That moon. . . it was so terrifying that it chilled my very soul just thinking about it. And each day, the dreams seemed to replay themselves as my journey, like my mind was telling the story of how I saved this town. The dream I had last night was my encounter with the Skull Kid, my transformation into the frail pathetic little Deku Scrub, and then the deal with the merchant of masks. And that was it. I already knew what to expect tonight.

As I started to get ready, I heard a noise. It was probably just Byrne again. But I looked out into the kitchen area to see Byrne cooking up breakfast.

I listened carefully to the noise, trying to find the source, until I found myself by the window. I pulled the curtains open, and looked down into the streets. Normally, if I were human, or from some other tribe in Hyrule, I wouldn't have been able to hear it. But with my Hylian ears, I could hear things from a mile away. Which is the total reason why I hate dog whistles.

Dog whistles aside though, I didn't like what I saw outside that much. Some guy dressed in a black robe from head to toe was standing right outside our house. I couldn't tell which direction he was facing, because of all the black he was wearing and how dark it was outside, but I'm pretty sure he was looking at _me_. Not good.

Why did stuff like this always happen to _me_?

I silently sat down at the table in Byrne's small kitchen, a plate of toast and eggs already made for my breakfast. Byrne sat across from me, nibbling on the corner of his toast. I ate without saying a word.

"So, what's up with you anyway, kid?" Byrne asked to break the silence.

"Well, that was out of nowhere," I said as I drank a glass of juice.

"It's just... every time the carnival rolls around, you get so nervous, and you don't seem to have as much energy as you usually do. So I want to know what's bugging you. The carnival is supposed to be fun!"

"Yeah, fun for you," I mumbled. "I don't know, I just have. . . weird dreams whenever the carnival comes up. You know how the carnival is based around a three-day cycle?"

"Yeah, the first day we begin to prepare, second we're almost done, third we finish, and then at midnight on the third day, we celebrate the carnival by opening the entrance to the Clock Tower."

"That's what bugs me. Do you remember that story I told you, of how I saved Clock Town from being crushed by that moon?"

"I'm the only one in Clock Town who knows, besides that Skull Kid guy and his fairies, but they live near the swamp to the south."

"Well, there was something else I forgot to add. You know how I saved the town during the three-day cycle? I actually did that cycle more than once. I saw what could have been."

Byrne winced and lifted his hands up, put them together, and set them under his chin. "So... you saw the future?"

"Sadly, yes. You took refuge up in the mountains, correct?"

"That's right. I was an old companion of the blacksmith up in the north, so he found a place for me to stay with the Gorons."

"Byrne, I hate to tell you this, but I ended up killing you more than once."

"What are you talking about? I'm fine! Living and breathing, and couldn't be better!"

"That's the trick. In the land of Hyrule, there are three golden goddesses: Din, Farore, and Nayru. However, there is a fourth goddess, whose true name I am unsure of at this point, but she is known as the Goddess of Time. By sealing a fraction of her powers in my ocarina, whenever I play the Song of Time, I can travel back in time. I used this consistently during my journey, to avoid getting myself killed. The song would take me back to Day One of the cycle, so I could start over again, with seventy-two hours to spare. I wouldn't have to do _everything_ I already did over again, but people I met and helped. . . I had to introduce myself to them again, and fix their exact same problem again." _Which was very, very, very annoying, _I thought, biting my lip. "I'm pretty sure I ended up doing this fifty times. . . I screwed some stuff up a lot, and some things took so long for me to figure out that I had to travel back to the first day so I could try it again with more time to spare."

"So. . . the moon. . . you saw it destroy Clock Town?" Byrne asked in a low voice.

"On several occasions, when I really screwed up, yes. Byrne, I just need to tell you this: even if you were in the Goron Mountains, heck, even if you were up on that giant castle in Ikana Canyon, it would have made no difference. When that moon landed, it was like a gigantic bomb." _It's called an atomic bomb, you idiot. _I raised my eyebrow at what my thoughts just said to me._ Wait, where did that come from? What the hell's an atomic bomb? Weird._ I looked up from my food to see Byrne's reaction. His expression was empty, showing no emotion at all.

Then, as if out of nowhere at all, he smiled.

"Well, thank the Goddess Din you were there to save us!" he chuckled. His face brightened, and then he stood up from the table. "So let's not worry about the past! You saved us and that's all there is to it!"

I smiled at his attempt to cheer me up. I picked up my dishes and set them in the sink to wash later. Byrne left the kitchen to go open the shop, and I went to the storage room to bring out some of the weapons we were going to put on display today. I forgot to mention, Byrne is a master blacksmith and swordsman. He used to work as a soldier for the king of Hyrule, but he got injured in a battle, and he was forced to move out here. So he started his own blacksmith service and weaponry store, and I've been his assistant for the past two and a half years. The weapons he makes can be truly extraordinary, as long as he works hard on them.

"Link! Hurry up with those weapons! We ain't gettin' any younger!" Byrne yelled from the other room.

"I'm trying! But this last one is really heavy!" I yelled back. For the third time I attempted to lift the heavy package, but I ended up having to drag it out to the lobby. I placed it next to the counter so Byrne could set it up.

_Weakling_, I thought. Wait, no, I didn't think that. Not at all! So where was it coming from? My head was just really slow today I guess.

"Byrne?" I realized that he was gone. He probably went out to get the mail. I sat down on the floor and yawned from the terrible sleep I had. These three days were going to be horrible. Would I even be awake enough to take part in the Carnival of Time?

_Hopefully. I'd love to laugh at your attempts to stay awake._

Stupid thoughts. I was beginning to hope I wasn't schizophrenic.

Finally, Byrne came inside, carrying a handful of letters and a small box. He threw the box towards me, and it landed on my lap.

"Here kid, it's a parcel for you," Byrne said.

"But how can I get mail? No one knows where I am." I tried to find a return address, but it was blank. There was no name either. I opened the envelope that was tied to the box with my fingernail and pulled out a sheet of black paper. The letters were written in a strange silver-colored calligraphy, so it was hard to make out. After looking over it four or five times, I finally made out what it said.

_Dear Link  
So, you're still alive, eh? I guess that's a good thing for you, but also a bad thing for us. Not saying we have anything against you. In fact, one of my teammates is a big fan of yours. But Link, I send this letter to you in a strict warning. I am not going to introduce myself to you yet. I'm not going to help you from the danger that awaits you yet. However, I can tell you one thing: you are in grave danger. It concerns me and my comrades. If you want to remain safe from the darkness, then stay where you are. Do not leave the town for any circumstances whatsoever!_

_P.S. The diary is in the box. Details on how to use it are on the inside cover._

I folded the letter up and ripped it in half. What a stupid letter. It was probably a prank made by the Bomber kids. But I was still curious to open the box. _'The diary is in the box'?_ I thought. I picked it up and pulled off the cardboard. Inside was a black diary, with a nib pen and a bottle of ink. The words 'Time Gate' were written in silver letters on the front cover. I picked up the diary and examined its clean surface. I opened it and flipped through the pages, when a small square piece of paper fell out. I caught it as it fell and read the tiny, neatly-written letters.

_Hey Link, I created this diary for you. Please keep it, it's my life's work. I hope it comes in handy!  
Your biggest fan, Uzuki Kasahara_

_Aww..._ I thought. Something was definitely wrong with my brain today.

"Shut up, stupid brain..." I hissed.

"What?" Byrne asked.

"N-Nothing..."

I put the note in my shirt pocket and looked at the book's pages again. The pages were lined, allowing them to be written on, and they were clean and new. I checked the back of the front cover, like the letter instructed me, and it was there that I saw silver words written all down the page.

_How to Use the Time Gate  
By Uzuki Kasahara_

_-The Time Gate is a special diary, only able to be used by a person who can control time itself. The ink that has been included does not work for people that don't have this ability._

_-The Time Gate can be written with the nib pen and ink provided, however other things may work as well (pencils, marker, and maybe even blood)_

_-The ink provided is one of its kind and will never run out. The pages in the Time Gate will never run out either._

_-The Time Gate is only usable by the person who can control time itself, however it can also be written in by the person who created it._

_-If the person who owns the Time Gate dies, or forfeits ownership of it, it will return to the person who originally created it. If the person who originally created it has also died, then the Time Gate will continue to exist until somebody else claims ownership of it, as long as they can control time._

I closed the diary and set it back in the box. I wanted to just send it back, but there were two things keeping me from doing that. One, that there was no return address. The only name I knew of who sent it was that Uzuki girl. And she obviously wasn't the person who wrote the letter. She was just aiding her comrade.

The second reason I couldn't give it back was that she said she put her life's work into creating it. I couldn't return something she worked so hard to make. I picked up the box and hid it under my shield, which was resting on the back wall.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I heard Byrne yell.

I looked at him with a confused look. "What's got you so mad?" I asked him.

He held up the letter he was reading. "You know that Osmont family over in Kalasia?"

"Uh, yeah, the family of six, right? They wanted you to make them a royal mythril sword. Aren't they coming to pick it up tomorrow?"

"That's the problem! Both their boys are sick with the flu, and one of their daughters is healing from a broken arm! They can't make it out here, and now they expect me to deliver it to them _personally_!"

"Isn't that a good thing? The Kalasians are very royal. You should take this as an honor!"

"Not when I'm busy enough as it is! I mean, the carpenters need my help building the tower that leads to the Clock Tower, and some of the soldier defense teams are low on men, so they asked me to help them with defending the town from monsters! I also need to make some light weapons for them!"

"Well, how about I go deliver the weapon after you do the finishing touches on it? I have nothing better to do."

_Yeah, you've got nothing better to do,_ I thought, or at least, my mind thought.

Byrne sat down and held the tip of his finger to his mouth. He always did that when he was thinking. "Link, Kalasian Palace is miles from here, and it's well guarded too. I can't just send a kid like you out there."

"Come on Byrne, I've faced dangers that some people can only imagine in their nightmares. I can do it, just give me a map, point the direction, and I'll be there and back in no time!"

"Hmm. . . are you sure?"

"Positive!"

Byrne sighed and gave in. "Alright, you can deliver it for me. But you have to be back by the morning of the Third Day. And keep the delivery safe, you hear? I don't want to get complaints from the Osmonts saying that the package was broken. You should leave around ten o'clock just so you can get there earlier." That left me with about three hours to get ready.

I grabbed my bag, and tried to take my shield to my room without Byrne noticing the box underneath it.

_You're not going to tell him what you got? Isn't he going to get curious?_ 'I' thought. These weren't my thoughts anymore.

Think to yourself right now.

Say anything in your head.

. . .

It's your voice, right?

These thoughts were not recited in _my voice_.

Congratulations, I was now schizophrenic! I think _not_!

_Shut up brain!_ I thought. _Whatever's wrong, just shut up!_

_No._

Crap, I really was schizophrenic!

I quickly ran into my room, and stuffed the book into my bag. I grabbed my small sword that was resting against the wall, along with my bow, my quiver, a few bombs, Deku Nuts, and a few of my transformation masks. I grabbed the Deku Scrub mask, no matter how useless it usually was, my Zora mask, and my Goron mask. The final one I grabbed, just in case, was my Fierce Deity's Mask. I didn't really understand this one. All I knew was that for some reason, its powers could only be activated when I was fighting the ruler or the ultimate monster of a temple. But I could still remember the day when Majora's Mask gave it to me, and when I defeated the cursed mask with this one. It was almost as if I could feel the evil resonating off the mask, like the warmth off the sun.

_Bastard_, I thought.

"Shut up," I hissed.

_I hate him. I hate his guts. I'm so much stronger than he is. . ._

"Who are you?"

No answer.

I groaned, and finished packing my bag. This bag was _huge_. It had six pockets along the sides, with two huge parts inside that opened up, along with a spot where I could set my quiver inside for quick access. Byrne had crafted it for me when I first met him.

_So, we're off to Kalasia?_

"Shut up!" I yelled, pounding my head against the wall so I could get the message to my brain that I wasn't fooling around. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

_That's right, just keep pounding your head against the wall until you knock yourself out._

I growled, and continued to hit my head against the wall.

_Hey! Quit it already, or the old man will hear you!_

"I don't freaking care, get out of my head!" I started to feel dizzy.

_Alright, suit yourself, idiot. . . _

What a stupid brain I have.


	2. To Kalasia

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 2: To Kalasia**

"Hey Byrne, I'm leaving now!" I called with a sarcastic tone in my voice. "You sure there isn't anything else I need before I go?" He was acting like I was leaving for longer than a day, what with all the stuff he packed: a loaf of bread, a map, a small pack of cheese, a brown overcoat that was twice my size (in case it got cold), twenty or so more arrows, way more than I needed, and a few rupees (which, when added up, was worth about one hundred). I mounted Epona at the gate to Clock Town and looked in the direction of the forest near the swamp.

Byrne walked up to me with a serious look on his face. "Now, are you sure you want to go alone?" he asked for the millionth time since this morning.

"Byrne, you're acting like I'm taking a trip to the Dark Realm or something! Calm down!" I pulled out the map and began to trace a path I could take with my finger.

_HEY! Don't insult the Dark Realm!_ my mind screamed at me. Schizophrenia attack again.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't worry so much," Byrne continued. I tried to listen to Byrne while I ignored the voice that was constantly yelling in my head. "I know you'll be fine. Just... be back by the carnival, alright?"

"No problem."

_Yeah, idiot, be back by the carnival!_

_I'm sorry, am I talking to you?_

I nudged Epona in the sides with my heels, and then I kicked her harder to get her moving. I waved goodbye to Byrne, until I couldn't see him anymore and we were hidden under the trees of the forest. I held Epona's reins with my right hand, and then held my sword with my left. I didn't want to take my chances with monsters out here, especially since I didn't have a huge black-haired psycho maniac to protect me (you know who I'm talking about).

_Black-haired psycho maniac. . . are you talking about me?_

I raised my eyebrow. So now a black-haired psycho maniac was talking to me in my thoughts, causing me to think I was schizophrenic. Maybe I was schizophrenic.

_Yeah, you are._

"You're not helping one bit," I muttered.

_So now we're going to have a conversation? Make it a good one please, I haven't talked to you in years. _

"What the hell are you anyways?" I yelled.

_Ha, you're yelling at yourself. . . do you know how idiotic you look right now? I can't help but laugh at you. . . _Its words were followed by an evil, psychotic laugh.

"You're crazy," I hissed.

_Why thank you. The crazy attitude allows me to make your life even more miserable!_

I sighed, and decided to make the best of this conversation. "Alright, who – no, even better – _what_ are you? How did you get inside my head? I'm obviously not schizophrenic, otherwise I would have discovered you a long time ago."

_You don't always get schizophrenia immediately when you're born. Sometimes it takes a while for the disease to spread. . . _

"I know I'm not schizophrenic! Tell me what you really are!"

_I think you should figure that out by yourself._

I growled in anger at the thoughts that went through my head. I was hoping that the voice would leave me alone soon; living with this thing all the time would soon get very, very annoying.

After a while, I remembered that I still had the Time Gate with me. I had managed to keep it hidden from Byrne. When he gave me the things he so desperately wanted me to take, I had packed it myself so that he wouldn't find it. The guy was a hardworking blacksmith, and stressed out enough. I didn't need him worrying about the things I had to deal with.

_Who knows, I might actually use it, _I thought_._

_Ha, yeah right._

It was getting hard to tell my thoughts apart from whatever was screaming in my head.

I rested myself against the bark of a tree, tired and hungry. I pulled out a loaf of bread and some cheese and made a sandwich with it. I ended up eating two (ripping off a few pieces of the bread and cheese for Epona of course). I checked my location on the map. I was already halfway there! This was too easy!

If only I knew what time it was.

_Night of the First Day_, the schizophrenia monster in my head clarified. _Well, a few hours from it. More like Evening of the First Day, but that doesn't exist, now does it?_

I ignored him, and opened my bag and took out the overcoat and the Time Gate. Byrne was right; it was getting colder. I slipped my arms through the huge sleeves and buttoned the torso part up. It was _way_ too big. It would probably only fit me if I was an adult again.

_Seven years too small buddy!_

"More like four years," I replied. "I'm thirteen. I was seventeen as an adult."

_Now don't the years just fly by? I really haven't been paying attention at all. . . _

I took off my green hat and shook it out in the air, dust flying off of it, and then put it in my bag. Epona laid down on the ground next to me, snuggling her soft head on my lap. I rubbed her mane with my hand, and she soon fell asleep.

I unfastened the cap on the little bottle of ink and dipped the tip of the nib pen into the black liquid.

_Da-dun-dun!_ it thought as I balanced my hand against the diary on my lap. _You'll regret it! I'm begging you, don't write anything! _It started laughing psychotically again. _Ha, I just had to do that. . . _

I rolled my eyes at its little joke and opened the Time Gate, trying to decide what to write. I didn't think writing in a diary would be so hard!

_Come on, just write something already! You're making me bored!_

In the end, I ended up writing down the names of all the people who helped me on my journeys. It was hard to write though, what with the sleeves of Byrne's extra-extra large jacket being way too big.

"Let's see," I whispered to myself. "Ruto. . . Kaepora Gaebora. . . Darunia. . . Zelda. . . Kafei. . ." I continued to do this, until I became so tired that I was forced to put it away and go to sleep.

* * *

"Hey, wake up..."

I shifted around to avoid hearing that voice again. I assumed that it was probably just my schizophrenic voice again.

"Kid, wake up!"

I remained asleep, but I could still hear the voices.

"Uzuki-chan, leave him alone, let him sleep."

"Yashiro-chan, I can't take chances! Jun is out to get him, we have to protect this kid!"

I opened my eyes slightly, still weary from my sleep. I could only make out two blurry figures. They were both girls. One of them was taller than the other. They both had black hair, and the short one had red streaks running through hers. But that's pretty much all I could make out. The rest was too blurry. _Come on, wake up!_ I thought to myself.

"Shh... did you hear that?" the tall one hissed.

There was a silence.

"Yeah, he's already here. Come on, let's go finish our original mission," the shorter one urged.

"Fun, fun, we get paid to kill people."

"Uh, Yashiro, you're not getting paid at all."

"Sure I am, 'cause after this you're buying me lunch."

"You suck, Yashiro-chan."

"Do you want a face full of fist?"

"So let me get these choices straight, I can pay to buy _you_ lunch... or get punched in the face?"

"Would you rather a hard kick in the ass?"

"Uh, no, no! That's quite fine, I think I'll stick with the lunch, thank you."

"That's what I thought. Now let's go!"

_Weirdos_, my second mind thought. _They look awfully familiar though. . . why can't I put my finger on it?_

_Stop trying to think!_ I yelled in my mind.

They disappeared in a black blur. The only thing left behind was a few leaves off the ground that had been picked up from the blur.

I opened my eyes, certain that the girls were gone. Epona wasn't sleeping on my lap anymore, but instead staring up at the sky. I aligned my view with hers, and I saw two shapes flying away in the sky. They were flying... with black wings. I shuddered, but I was still relieved. They obviously weren't out to get me. If they were, they could have just killed me right there.

But you know what? I could have sworn I heard the name Uzuki in their words. This gave me a bit more information to work with.

Uzuki Kasahara has known about my existence for some time.

She has an accomplice who goes by the name of Yashiro.

And whoever they are, they're definitely _not_ human.

_I knew it!_

"Knew what?" I asked. "That it was that Uzuki woman? Because I think I just clarified that."

_Well, I don't know exactly who they are, but I do know what they are!_

"Can you share some of this information then?"

_No. Top secret information, which I'm keeping to myself._

"But you're me, aren't you? I mean, you have to be, if you're talking in my mind. Which means you have to tell me everything."

_No, I'm not you. I'm you._

"That doesn't make any sense. . ."

_It's up to you to figure out what I'm talking about._

"How can I when you're obviously a psycho maniac! I bet _you_ don't even know what you're talking about!"

_Link, you're talking to yourself again._ It laughed.

I opened my Time Gate and wrote a small paragraph below my list of names.

_December 29th_

_I'm on a little trip delivering a package to a family in the land of Kalasia. On this trip, I have discovered two people without them knowing about it. Uzuki Kasahara, and her accomplice, Yashiro. Not fairies like me, but definitely not human either. They sprouted black wings from their backs, almost like angel wings, but they seem torn. . . like certain sections of the feathers had been severely ripped. And they didn't fly like guardians from heaven either. They slumped their shoulders over, leaving their legs and arms just hanging while their wings did all the work. And their wings were huge, each wing spanned out at least over a meter. I want to find out what these people are. I'll probably look into it after the carnival's over._

I put the Time Gate away in my bag, along with the pen and the ink, and then I mounted Epona to continue my trip. The stuff I had to put up with just to deliver a package to someone was more than it was worth. I had to put up with my schizophrenic friend, and I had to deal with two non-human women who may have been trying to kill me.

I sighed, and laid my head against Epona's neck as she rode me through the forest.

* * *

I lifted my head from Epona's neck to see bright sunshine and trees with cherry blossoms growing on them. Butterflies fluttered with the warm soft breeze, and little rivers trailed around the area. The path of dirt eventually ended, and a path made of white brick formed under Epona's hooves. Ahead of me there was a palace, built with white bricks and blue rooftops. Blue ribbons were attached to the walls, and like the butterflies, they flowed softly with the wind. I had finally arrived, in Kalasia. This place was so beautiful. . .

_Eww, this place is disgusting_! my second mind spat. _It's too bright. . . need. . . twilight. . .! Need . . . hatred. . . !_!

_Thanks a lot, you ruined this peaceful moment, drama queen._

Epona rode down the path, while I continued to stare in awe at the beautiful landscape. Blossoms fell from the trees and flew across the sky. I could hear children playing. But as I rode, they stopped to watch me. They must have never seen a person like me before, a Kokiri, or a Hylian.

I approached the two guards that were standing by the entrance to the palace. They held their spears across the door, denying access. I just had to tell them I had a package for the Osmont family, right?

"Um, hello. My name is Link. I'm here to deliver a package to the Osmont family. It's from the blacksmith of Clock Town, Byrne," I explained. The guards looked at each other, and then nodded their heads. They lowered their spears, allowing me to pass.

"Thank you," I said as I walked through the gate.

_Well, that was easier than I thought,_ I thought as I walked inside.

_Tell me about it. What idiots._

It was even more amazing inside the palace.

It was like a chapel. . . no, let me rephrase that: it was like a _sanctuary_. A velvet carpet was spread from the gate all the way to the throne. Velvet curtains hung from the stained-glass windows, and candles were lit along the walls. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, distributing tiny orbs of light that very slowly fell to the floor. Sitting in the thrones was a woman and a man wearing white robes. The king and queen.

The King was short, and he had short black hair, thin eyes and wrinkles on his forehead.

The Queen seemed taller, and she had short hair that was a somewhat bluish-silver color, and it fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were almost white, like she was blind.

_Bow! Bow you idiot!_ my schizophrenic mind screamed at me. I took my sword out, placed the tip to the floor, and kneeled. Well, my schizophrenic mind _helped_ me for once. How nice.

"You may raise your head," the king stated.

I lifted my head and pulled my sword from the floor. I put it back into its sheath.

"What is your name?" the king asked me.

"Link Nohansen Hyrule."

The queen giggled. "You look familiar. Have we... met before?"

"I don't believe so," I replied.

"Hmm, strange. I know your face from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it. You're obviously not from around here, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"Why is it that you've traveled all the way out here to Kalasia?" the king asked.

"Actually, I have a package I need to give to the Osmont family."

'_Cause they have too many excuses not to come out and get it themselves._

"Ah, I see. The Osmont family is the branch house of the Kai family. I'm a Kai, as well as my wife here, and my two children."

"I see."

"Link, is it?" he asked, and began to stand up.

"Yes, Your Highness."

He stood up and walked down the steps from the throne. His wife followed. "How about we take a little walk? Get to know each other a little better?"

"Um, I'm not sure if-"

"Oh come on! You don't have to treat us like royalty! The Kalasians are not the same as the Hyrulians, no offense."

I smiled. "None taken."

_Ha, he just insulted you_, my mind laughed.

_He said no offense._

_Yeah, but he still insulted you._

The king began to walk down a corridor. "Come walk with me. I have some things I want to discuss." I followed him, and the queen followed close behind me. We walked for a few minutes, passing multiple doors and staircases. Then the king stopped.

"We sure are lucky to get a visit from the Hero of Time, aren't we, Emily?" the king asked his wife.

"I knew it! I knew his face was familiar!" She giggled again. She gave me a bow.

"Oh, you knew?" I asked.

_What the? They know?_ I thought. _How is that even possible!_

_What do you mean? Doesn't everyone know that?_ my schizophrenic friend asked.

_No. The story of the Hero of Time was erased from history because Zelda sent me back in time so I could be a kid again. . . it's almost like my battle with Ganondorf never happened._

_Maybe some people know the legend?_

_Maybe. . . wait, why am I even having a conversation with you? Why are you still in my head?_

_To make you feel crazier and crazier each second._

_Well go away!_

"There's no mistaking the Triforce mark on your hand," the king chuckled. "And the clothes. You are Link of the Kokiri and the Royal Family, Hero of Time, master of the Master Sword."

"Heh, that's me." I scratched my head, trying to remember what the king and queen and I were talking about before my fight with 'schizophrenic me'. "But Your Highness, I'm a bit low on time as it is and-"

_It's only the Morning of the Second Day._

_Exactly my point, _I thought.

"Please, call me Samuel. This is my wife Emily."

"I'm very pleased to meet you. But Samuel, I need to get going soon. I need to be back in Clock Town by tomorrow morning. I just need to deliver the package to the Osmonts."

"Yes, yes, of course. If you would be so kind as to follow me to the branch house of the palace." We all walked back to the throne room. I picked up the package, and then the king instructed me to another hallway. This one led me to a small chamber with a dome roof. The king pushed a small door open, revealing a room where two parents and four children were staying. There were three boys, and one girl. Two of the kids were sick, and another one had a cast around their arm.

"Ah, King Samuel, it is nice to get a visit from you at this dire time," the father said.

_Dire? Your kids are sick, and one has a broken arm. That doesn't seem very 'dire' to me._

"Hello, Maximilian, it's good to see you too. How are the children?"

"They're healing nicely, and your daughter has been helping them, so they're not alone either. She just left to get my wife some tea."

"By the way, Max, you recently placed an order with a sir Byrne of Clock Town, did you not?"

"That's right, I did."

"Well, here's the delivery boy." Samuel looked towards me, so I held out the package.

"Ah, yes! The sword I wanted crafted! Thank you so much for delivering this to me!" I passed him the sword, and then he placed it against the wall. Then he reached his hand under one of the beds and pulled out a bag. "This is the money I owe Byrne. Please give him my thanks as well." He passed the bag to me. It was heavy! How much money was in this thing?

_Well, well, the old man hit the jackpot this time!_ Schizophrenic Me laughed. _Hey, as a joke, you should totally just take half the money out of there for yourself and then tell Byrne that the other half was what the Osmonts paid him!_

_Shut up! I'm not doing that!_

"Uh, thanks," I muttered. I placed the money into my shoulder bag. But because of Schizophrenic Me, I was curious to look inside the bag. . .

"Excuse me!"

A girl pushed right past me, carrying a tray with teacups and a teapot. She looked like the queen, only much younger.

"Kurenai! Where are your manners?" Samuel scolded.

"Sorry, Father," she apologized, and poured a cup of tea for the mother. She must have been the king's daughter. She was a rather frail girl, and she wore the same type of clothing her parents did. She wore cherry blossom flowers in her hair, and a metal circlet was around her neck. The Kalasian crest was embedded on the front of it.

"Where's Matsuda?" the queen asked.

"He's coming," Kurenai replied softly. Her voice was somewhat cold.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" A small boy ran past me, shoving me to the floor. He looked like he was six years old. The king grabbed my hand and pulled me back up. I rubbed my tunic to get the dust out.

_Hey, that little brat just pushed you to the ground! _Schizophrenic Me yelled._ Strangle him for me, would ya?_

"Matsuda!" Kurenai yelled at the boy. "Try and slow down a little!"

He stuck his tongue at her. Then he turned towards me, examining my clothes and hair.

"Ha, you have funny clothes!" he laughed.

_Why you little bastard. . . _

_He's just a kid! _I thought angrily.

_We used to beat people up for doing stuff like that!_

_He's half my age, for Goddess' sake!_

Kurenai gave Matsuda a look of disgust. "Matsuda! Is that any way to treat the Hero of Time?"

I groaned. "Is it really that obvious?"

The queen giggled again.

_Dude, you're the only Hylian in existence who wears a man-dress like you do. The queen has a reason to laugh._

_Well, sorry for having a bad upbringing! But nobody told me that I was a Hylian and not a Kokiri!_

I turned towards the king. "Well, I must be going now, Samuel. I have to be back in Clock Town by tomorrow morning. It was a pleasure to meet you all." I gave a final bow to the king and left the room without saying another word.

_. . . _

_Can we look at the money now?_

_No!_


	3. Encounter with the Reaper

Hey everyone,

Well, here's the revised Chapter 3. I'm hoping to get the edited chapters done quickly so that I can add chapter 39, which I know you have all been waiting for. I'm working on it! Please R&R!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 3: Encounter with the Reaper**

_I'm trembling in fear. _

_The moon has crashed._

_And yet here I am, still alive, standing next to my horse again, still happy that I found her._

_But I'm still scared._

_Scared out of my mind._

_I felt like I wasn't a good person, like I became a murderer._

_I didn't know what to do when I ran out of time, so I instantly reacted, and played that cursed song._

_The Song of Time._

_And yet that song... it's still so beautiful. But cursed to bring me back here, to the First Day, with everyone still alive, unaware of the mistake I had made._

_I had two remains of the monsters I had killed... but I still needed two more. _

_And I've already screwed up once, killing everyone and everything in Termina. _

_I just want to throw this journey away, return home, where I belong._

_But... where is home? Where do I belong?_

_I'm not a Kokiri, I'm a Hylian._

_But I can't end this journey. Not now. Not when hundreds, no, thousands of peoples' lives are at stake._

_I'm going to have to keep going, keep fighting for my life, and for other lives too._

_I am not going to let Clock Town get destroyed._

I opened my eyes quickly, and I snapped upright in the grass. I wiped my forehead, and realized that I was sweating. It was one of those dreams. . . the dreams that I got on the three days of the carnival. I always hated them. They always scared me, even though I was used to having them.

I looked up to the sky to check what time it was. The sun was starting to come down. It was probably around five or six in the evening. I only had a bit of time before the Morning of the Third Day.

I yawned and glanced around the area to try and find Epona. She was grazing in a nearby field, so I whistled for her to come. She trotted up towards me, and then nudged my face with hers. She neighed happily, and then she walked up to my side, offering to let me ride her. I grabbed the saddle and hoisted myself up, then I kicked her in the sides to get her running.

This was the last night I had to get back. It was either get back before the morning, or have Byrne skin me alive and then lecture me for the next two hours.

We traveled for hours, both of us tired and hungry. I would have eaten another sandwich, but unfortunately I ended up feeding it all to Epona. Poor girl, she must have been miserable. I would have to give her a special treat when we got home.

Then I heard a sound. Distant first. It sounded like leaves rustling, but not the kind of rustle that would be from the wind. It was the cracking of leaves, the only one you'd get from stepping on them.

I wasn't alone anymore.

I circled my gaze around the area I was in, keeping an eye out for anything amiss. It was from the corner of my eye that I saw a few leaves float from the ground. I quickly took my sword out from its sheath and held it out, giving it as a warning to anyone that came near. The next thing I heard was the sound of wind. I turned around to see a strange black hole appearing in the air. There were strange markings all around it. It kept getting bigger, until a person stepped out of it. It was a boy with wings sprouting from his back.

Torn black angel wings.

The boy looked about my age, with messy black hair, and he wore a white t-shirt with blue shorts. His wings were smaller than Uzuki and Yashiro's wings.

"W-Who are you?" I asked shakily. These people were really making me nervous.

"You really don't listen to people, do you?" he asked.

"What?"

"The letter, you idiot! Didn't I tell you not to leave the outskirts of the city for any circumstances whatsoever?"

"So it was you that sent me that stupid letter! What do you want with me?"

He focused his glance past me for a second, and then he looked at me again. "Uzuki tells me that you've been using your Time Gate. Good job. It will make my explanation so much easier."

I held my sword to the boy's neck and gave him an evil look. "Who are you?" I asked in a low voice. "What do you want with me? Why are you following me?"

"You're awful cocky to be challenging a person like me," he snickered.

I jumped off Epona and circled around the boy, continuing to hold the sword towards him. "Are you asking for a fight? I'll have you know I'm stronger than I look."

"I know that. Take a swing with the sword, watch what happens." He smiled an evil smile. He positioned himself so that his left foot was forward, right foot back, right hand back, and left hand forward.

I lunged at him with my blade, and before I could even blink, he had me tied down to the ground with his hands. He held my wrists together with his hands, and held my body down with one foot.

"Man, you need to learn how to fight!" he laughed. He released my wrists and body and pulled me up from the ground. "Mitsuhiro was right. You do need a lot of training!" He laughed again, and placed his hands on his waist. His black wings spread out even farther from his back. "But, you've humored me, so I guess I can share a little bit of information."

I sighed in exhaustion. I would have been able to defeat him if I wasn't so dang tired. "Please do," I replied.

"My name is Shuto Kaniji," he introduced, and bowed. "I'm sorry for the strange letter, but I figured you'd go along with it. Guess not."

"So, why did you want to keep me inside Clock Town?" I asked, interrupting.

"There are people after you Link, people who want to kill you. They want to use your blood to revive an ancient darkness."

_Wouldn't be the first time_, my second mind snickered.

"Then what do you have in all of this?"

"You've seen these wings on my back, right?" He spread his wings out farther so that every ripped feather was showing.

"Of course I've seen them! What the hell are you?"

"Just your average Reaper. I walk among the dead and the living, unable to go to heaven or hell. I'm neither a Fallen Angel, or an Angel. That's the reason my wings are ripped, torn at each feather."

_So that's what you were hiding from me, I thought._

_Good job, Sherlock._

"So, if you're not the one that's after me, who is?"

He remained silent. "Link, don't worry about us right now. We're the least of your worries. Just worry about getting back to the city in one piece. Uzuki, Yashiro and I will hold down the fort here. We won't let the enemy get you."

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Just forget it, Link! We're not going to let him get you! Just stay in Clock Town, you'll be safe there!"

I growled at him, and put my sword in its sheath. "So who is this Uzuki girl? Why did she make me this diary?"

He scratched his neck, pausing for a moment. "Even I'm not sure. It's been hard to communicate with her, what with the enemies on our trail. But she told me that you would need it. Something about your memories? Anyways, that's not important. Uzuki doesn't want you to get caught, and neither do I. So I want you to do as I tell you."

"What the? I hardly even know who you are, how can I trust you?"

"You really have no choice at this point, do you?" he muttered.

Shoot. He was right.

_Ha, he got you._

I took a deep breath and exhaled, calming myself to listen to Shuto's words. I sat down in the grass. He sat down in front of me.

"Alright, now listen to me. I need you to return to Clock Town first. Don't say anything about our meeting, it could cause trouble. Just tell the guy you're staying with that you finished the delivery successfully. After that, I want you to continue your work there, until the carnival. You can attend the carnival and have fun, but I want you to keep an eye out for a man in a black robe. He'll be wearing a scarf, so you won't be able to see his face. Go up to this person and wave with your left hand facing yourself, so that he can see your Triforce. He'll nod, and leave the carnival. This will signal to him that you can be trusted. Then, when the clock strikes midnight, and the Clock Tower opens, I want you to head inside the tower. Not to the top, but where you met that masked salesman. The man in the black robe will be there for you, and he will explain the rest."

I looked at him with a dazed look. Not only was his explanation long, but confusing and shady. And how in the world did he know that I was on a delivery and I was staying with Byrne?

"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled at him. "You're making it harder and harder for me to trust you!"

"Could you not yell so loud? We don't want them to find us! Please, just do as I ask, and everything will return back to normal. Please." He stood up from the ground. I stood up as well.

"Fine, if it'll get you off my back. But are you sure everything will return to normal?"

"Depends. I can't read the future. Something could change, making everything screw off into a different effect. Just meet up with my companion in Clock Town, and follow his instructions. That's all."

I looked down to my feet and shuffled them through the grass. "Yeah, I'll do it. And could you do me one little favor?" I asked Shuto.

He looked surprised. "What is it?"

"Give a 'thank you' to Uzuki for me. I'm keeping the Time Gate."

Shuto smiled and spread out his wings, preparing to leave. "No problem. She'll be glad to hear that. You know, we could make good friends someday." He began to flap his wings, and then he took off into the sky, his body hanging from his wings. I watched him leave, until I couldn't see him anymore, and then I mounted Epona and left for Clock Town.

Maybe we _could_ be friends.

* * *

When I reached Clock Town, I was greeted by a happy and ecstatic Byrne. When I jumped off Epona, he ran up to me and hugged me until I was lifted off the ground and couldn't breathe.

"Byrne!" I coughed, trying to find air. "You're crushing me! Let go!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" he apologized, and set me back down. I bent down to regain my lost air. "How did the delivery go?" he finally asked.

I stood up straight again and pulled out the bag with the money in it. I passed it to him. "Why don't you ask this? There's gotta be a fortune in here!"

His face lit up, and he opened the bag. "Holy cow! This will do wonders for the store! I finally have enough saved to get it renovated!" He tied the bag back up and ruffled my hair with his other hand.

"That's great Byrne," I congratulated. "By the way, what time is it?"

"It's the morning of the third day. You made it back in time to help me put the finishing touches on the tower!"

I groaned. "Have you been _waiting_ to finish the tower until I got home?" I asked suspiciously.

"Uh, of course not!" he stuttered. "Stop trying to be smart, and let's go help the carpenters finish!"

_He was so totally waiting for you._

"Yeah, 'cause they're too lazy to do it themselves," I snickered. I followed Byrne into the town, and he lead me to the tower. This tower was in development for a long time, and when it was finished, it was supposed to allow people to go to the top of the tower. But I didn't care much. The top of the Clock Tower was the _last_ place I wanted to go.

"Actually, Link, you look pretty tired," Byrne said. "You want to take a rest from work for the afternoon?"

"If that's alright with you, Byrne, then sure. I need a good sleep." I entered the shop and walked into the backroom, where my room was clean and the bed made. I pulled the blanket over my body, turned off the light, grabbed a candle and laid down on the bed with my Time Gate. I lit the candle and set it on my bedside table. I pulled my pen and the ink out from my bag and opened the Time Gate.

_December 31st,_

_It's finally the third day for preparing the carnival. Byrne is helping those lazy carpenters finish the tower, and I'm resting here from my journey to Kalasia. I successfully delivered the package, and got a good pay for Byrne's store too. I can't forget to follow Shuto's instructions during the carnival, though. That kid sure is hard to trust. And what is a Reaper, exactly? Speaking of the carnival, I still need to figure out what mask I'm going to wear. I wore my bunny hood last year, but this year I want to wear something less. . . childish. I would wear my Fierce Deity's Mask, but for some reason it disappeared after I used it in the fight against Majora's Mask. I already wore the Postman's Hat before, and there's no way I'm wearing the Great Fairy's Mask! Maybe the Keaton Mask? No, Kafei would probably wear that. I know! The All-Night Mask! Never again will I fall asleep halfway through the carnival!  
Well, I'd better head to bed now, Byrne will be expecting me to help him later on today._

I closed the diary and the ink bottle, and placed them both in my bag with the pen. I slid the bag under my bed, blew out the candle, and then within minutes, I drifted into a deep sleep.

_

* * *

_

The final battle is finally approaching.

_Having found all the boss remains, and multiple other masks as well, it was time for me to head to the Clock Tower, where the Skull Kid, Majora's Mask, and that horrific moon waited. Tatl is still here by my side, even more worried about her brother, Tael. But we both know that our journey will be over soon, and things will return to normal, the way they're supposed to be._

_I just have to make sure I don't die._

_I've never really thought about death. I've always been able to fight my way out of a situation, having friends by my side to help me. But not this time. The only one I had was Tatl. No Malon, no Saria, no Zelda, none of the Sages, no Navi. Only Tatl and the twenty masks I collected. And my Ocarina of Time if things got too hard to handle. But if I went back in time during a dangerous fight, would that count as running away? I don't want to run from my battles, or from the countless amount of people who might end up dying tonight._

_So I'm going to fight. I continue to think about this as the clock strikes twelve, and the fireworks go off. I continue to think about this as the Clock Tower doors open, and I climb up and head inside. _

_I continue to think about this as I square off against the Skull Kid himself and bring the Ocarina of Time to my lips._

"Link, get up!"

I opened my eyes and looked up at Byrne, who was standing next to my bed with a concerned look.

"What's up?" I yawned.

"Link! You dolt, you slept through the entire carnival!" he yelled.

"What?" I screamed and jumped out of bed. I ran to the calendar. It read January 1st, and the December sheet was already ripped off. My heart began pounding through my chest.

Why didn't my schizophrenic mind say anything mean to me yet?

"Byrne! How could I have slept through the entire carnival? Why didn't you wake me? Why didn't-" I stopped talking to see my words interrupted by Byrne's laughter. He held his stomach and fell to the ground, and he began pounding the floor with his fist because he was laughing so hard. I saw a tear fall from his eye.

"Good Din, you really fell for it!" he laughed and pointed at me. "Y-You should of seen the expression on your face! Priceless! Man, if only I had a camera to catch that moment! You were all like, 'what the?', and then you totally fell for it! I can't believe that joke actually worked!"

I frowned and looked at the calendar. Byrne must have ripped off the December sheet in an attempt to scare me. "Byrne!" I growled. "How could you do something like that? You nearly made my heart skip a beat!" I ran at him and tackled him to the floor. Once again, he simply picked me up and set me on my bed.

"Come on, don't be a poor sport! You gotta admit that was funny!" he giggled.

I smiled at him to support his joke, and then, even though I was trying my hardest to hold it back, I burst into laughter.

"Ha, you're right!" I laughed. "Nothing wrong with a little joke before the celebration, right? Good one, Byrne!" We both fall to the floor in laughter.

What would I do without Byrne?


	4. Night of the Carnival

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**A Short Interlude**

The four creatures stood in the darkness of the forest, unaware of their fate. Their wings remained close to their bodies in fear, and their bodies shivered like they were in pain.

"Uzuki, everything is going to be alright, okay? Calm down," the man hushed. He wrapped his arms around her body, trying to calm her down.

"Mitsuhiro, we're not going to survive this!" Uzuki sputtered through tears and coughs. "The Society will find us! And when they do, they won't hesitate to kill us! I don't want to die again!"

"We're not going to die," he whispered. "Shuto found the Hero of Time. He told him the plan. We just need to make sure that dang fairy keeps his end of the bargain."

"So, you're going to meet him in Clock Town then?" Yashiro snickered, and folded her arms. "I thought you detested the fairies!"

"I do, but if it's for our own survival, then I'll work with them just this once, even if the Reapers are supposed to be the ones to hate the fairies."

"Don't worry, he'll hold up his end of the bargain," Shuto assured. "He _is_ the Hero of Time."

"What about Jun and Iwata? With those two on our tail, nowhere is safe anymore!" Yashiro yelled.

Uzuki let out a short wail.

"Yashiro, you're making it worse!" Mitsuhiro grumbled. "Calm down, Uzuki. When we get back to the base, I'll get you some pencils and paper, okay? Drawing always makes you feel better."

"Oh yeah, and you know what makes _me _feel better?" Yashiro interrupted. "Giving someone a good punch in the face! Come on, let's go destroy the enemy! I want to destroy them!"

"Yashiro, shut up!" Mitsuhiro yelled."Now, we'll head back to the base, and when we get there, I want you to be the night watch, okay? Do something with all that energy."

Yashiro growled. "Fine, I'll be the night shift." She pulled out a bag of potato chips, opened it, reached in and put a chip in her mouth. "But hiding won't get us anywhere!"

The Reapers spread out their wings, and disappeared into the night, leaving behind nothing but torn black feathers.

**Chapter 4: Night of the Carnival**

"Hey Link, do me a favor and pass me that slab of wood!" Byrne yelled.

"Um, kinda busy at the moment!" I yelled back as I positioned the multicolored flags for the tower. "Hey, Kafei, does that look straight to you?" I looked down at Kafei, who was watching me put up the flags on the tower while he prepared the last of the balloons. He looked up at me and tilted his head.

"Uh, a little higher!" he corrects. I attempt to lift the flag string higher.

"How about now?" I ask again, straining to hold my arm up.

"That's perfect! Just tie it down and you're all done!"

I took the string and tied it to the wooden tower beam.

"Link! Pass me that slab of wood!" Byrne yelled again, losing his patience.

"Alright, alright!" I growled. I jumped off the ladder and grabbed one of the wood slabs. I put the slab on one of the lifters, and pulled the rope, sending the wood upwards. Byrne took it and hammered it down to the tower.

"We're almost done, Link! I just need a few more slabs of wood, and some tiles! Could you send those up too?"

"Sure thing, Byrne!" Things were working out perfectly. The tower was probably going to get finished this year, allowing others to enter the Clock Tower and admire it at a full view. Byrne and I had finally gotten the carpenters to do their fair share of the work, and we had hired a few other folks to help out with the balloons and flags. Kafei being in charge of the balloons, he was working with the mayor, Anju, and the Deku Scrubs from the city (they could get the job done especially fast when they put their hearts into it.) And of course, the Bombers were in charge of the fireworks (granted that they had adult supervision, much to their dismay. You can never trust a Bomber alone with a lit match and a box of fireworks.)

I grabbed four more slabs and multiple tiles and placed them on the lever again. I pulled the rope, sending the materials to Byrne, and he grabbed them, putting them onto the tower. We continued this pattern for a while, until the tower was finished.

Byrne jumped down from his ladder and laid down in the hammock he set up next to his shop. He stared up at the immense tower and smiled. I walked over to him and sat down next to the tree supporting the hammock.

Byrne yawned and ruffled my hair. "Good job, Link. We did it. The tower is finished, and the carnival is set to go!"

"Hey, did you figure out what you're going to wear for a mask yet?" I asked him.

"I think I'm wearing the Keaton Mask this year. I talked to Kafei, and it turns out that he's wearing the Bunny Hood. What about you?"

"I think I'm going to wear the All-Night Mask. That'll look cool."

"Hmph, good choice." Byrne began to swing the hammock, until he fell asleep.

I stood up from the ground and stretched my arms out. It was six o'clock, and the sun was beginning to set, the moon showing its face beyond the horizon.

The moon.

If it was three years ago, I would just have to look up to see the moon only meters away from the Clock Tower, its terrifying face looming towards mine, its eyes glowing a bright orange, and its mouth baring huge teeth that could shred my body limb from limb...

I shuddered from the thought. The moon now, however, was the same as the moon in Hyrule, a soft white, that rose at night, and left at dawn. Just a plain old moon.

I still don't know how long I stood there, staring at the moon, because before I knew it, it was already at the top of the sky, looking down on all the townspeople who wore masks and silly costumes.

Byrne ran past me with a Keaton Mask on his face. "Hiya, Link, where's your mask?"

"Huh?" I blinked. Time had moved too fast for me to comprehend. It was the festival already? I took out my All-Night Mask and placed it on my face. The black coils wrung around my chin, neck and ears, and I could see through the bright white and red eyes. I also pulled out a black robe and put it on over the black tunic I decided to wear. I pulled the hood over my head, obscuring a bit of my face, but enough to reveal just a few coils and the glowing eyes. It went perfectly with my mask.

Byrne lifted his mask off his face and pushed it onto his forehead. His expression was stunned. "Uh, where did you get the robe?" he asked.

"I bought it. Can you believe it was the only one in stock?"

"Yeah, I can. It makes you look evil."

"Nothing wrong with being on the opposite side of justice for a carnival, right?"

"Hmm, I guess not. Pretty good idea Link!"

"Ha, I'm full of 'em"

"Don't push your luck, kid." Byrne pulled the mask back over his face and ran to the town square to celebrate with the townsfolk. I wanted to run off with him, but I had something more important to do.

The mission I was given still had to be finished.

I walked through the crowds, keeping an eye out for anyone else wearing a black robe. It was hard to tell, because it was dark outside, even with the torches lit and fountain fairies running amok in the streets. People were dancing everywhere, all of them wearing crazy masks, some of which I recognized, some of which I didn't even think existed. There were people playing multiple instruments, like the flute, the lute, and a few playing their own personalized ocarinas. I felt compelled to join them with my ocarina, but I decided not to. It was nine o'clock, and I figured I only had until midnight to find this person.

I held my Time Gate and my Ocarina tightly in my arms, which remained hidden under my robe, as I looked for the person. I didn't think Shuto would make it so hard! I continued to look, until the clock stricked ten. At this point, I groaned, and decided to join the party. Ever since my encounter with Shuto, I kept telling myself to never trust the Reaper. And you know what I did? I trusted the Reaper. If the Goddesses existed in this world, Farore would probably be thinking, 'What a stupid kid! Falling for a trick like that!' and then Din would probably curse me for eternity.

Me and my imagination, running wild again. But as I walked through the crowds, I noticed a familiar straw hat moving around the bodies. I ran over to the person, and was overjoyed.

"Skull Kid!" I laughed. He looked towards me, smiled, and jumped at me, arms spread to hug me. I grabbed him as he flew towards me, and I swung him around happily. "How are you doing buddy?" I asked him.

"I'm doing great, Link! I almost didn't recognize you with that robe and mask on!"

"Tell me about it," I chuckled. "Where's Tatl and Tael?"

The Skull Kid lifted his hat, revealing the fairy siblings. They zoomed up from his head, and flew towards me, their little round bodies overtaken with excitement.

"Link!" they both shouted at the same time.

"It's been so long you two!" I said to them, and held out my hands, allowing them to land.

"How are you, Link?" Tatl asked.

"I'm great! Never better!"

"Go on any adventures lately?" Tael asked next.

"No, not much. Only a couple deliveries outside the city walls. By the way, have you two and Skull Kid happened to see a guy wearing a black robe? I'm supposed to find someone like that before the carnival's over."

"Well, besides you, no, I haven't," Tatl answered. She turned to her brother. "What about you Tael? Did you see anyone like that?"

"Uh, I think I did see someone. He was tall, and his face was covered with a black hood supported by a robe. I think he was over by the back end of the Clock Tower."

"Really? Thanks you guys. Have fun!" I released them from my hands.

"You're leaving already?" Skull Kid whimpered.

"Don't worry, I'll be back," I said back, and left them alone in the town square. The back end of the Clock Tower? Why hadn't I searched there yet?

I ran around the tower, next to the entrance to Northern Clock Town. I waited, for a sign, anything, that he was in this town.

The next thing I felt was a hand around my mouth and a switchblade held to my neck. Whoever was holding me down, I could feel their breathing on my neck. I looked next to me to see a hooded face peering out from inside the tower wall.

"Why are you here?" he asked me. His voice was cold and cruel. He released his hand from my mouth, but he kept the blade against the skin on my neck.

"What are you talking about?" I stuttered in fear. Sweat began to form on my face.

"Don't act so innocent, you fool! You're trying to destroy the Hero of Time, aren't you?" He held the knife deeper into my skin, until I was sure that I was going to start bleeding.

"What the? You idiot, I _am_ the Hero of Time!"

"What? But... that robe..."

"Is a costume!" I interrupted. "For the carnival! And guessing from that robe you're wearing, I'm guessing you're that Reaper I was supposed to meet up with?"

The man pulled his knife away and folded it back up. It was then that I realized his body was mushed in with the tower wall. His face was the only thing showing, and the rest of his body was shown in the wall as a black ripple.

I held up my left hand, revealing the glowing Triforce mark on the back. The man nodded, and pulled himself back into the ripple.

All that was left to do was meet up with him at midnight.

I played my ocarina with the band, my emotions filled with happiness and excitement. I planned to enjoy this day, until midnight struck. Kids and adults were laughing and singing as I played my instrument with the other ocarina players. We didn't play together that well, but we still sounded pretty awesome. I could see Byrne clapping with the crowd.

After we were finished playing, everyone began the countdown to midnight. We counted down from ten.

Five, four, three, two, one...

Fireworks burst into the sky, illuminating the town square with rainbow colors. The pillar on the Clock Tower fell forward, opening the door to the top of the tower. That was my cue to run to the basement.

I ran towards the tower without saying a word to Byrne, and pushed open the heavy wooden doors. Inside, after closing the doors, I could hear the muffled cheers of people, and the sound of running water. This place was also one of the water support stations, next to the laundry area. I sat down on the steps, examining the area for the cloaked man.

"What do you know, you held up your end of the bargain." I heard a voice say. A man stepped out from the darkness, his entire body disguised in a black robe. "I guess I owe you an apology. Not _all_ fairies are disgusting creatures."

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" I asked angrily.

"Oh, you didn't know? Reapers and fairies have been longtime enemies. And I am no exception. As a Reaper, I continue to detest your kind. But Shuto and Uzuki's hearts are both too soft. They propose that we all work with you. So here I am, standing in the presence of one of the last few fairies on earth. Your kind is rare these days, you know."

I looked to the ground, ashamed. "Yeah, I know."

"Then I can make this quick," he muttered, as he reached his hands up towards his hood. He pulled the fabric down, revealing a thin face with black hair that fell over his black eyes. "My name is Mitsuhiro Minamimoto. I'm Reaper number one in my squad, and our goal is to protect you from the evil that chases after you. My teammates' names are Uzuki Kasahara, being second, Shuto Kaniji, being third, and Yashiro Takahashi, being fourth. Link, our mission is important, and for us to be able to successfully complete it, I need you to come with me to my Realm."

"But, I can't!" I protested. "I belong here, in Clock Town! I can defend myself perfectly fine!"

"Are you kidding me? Based on what I heard from Kaniji's report, you were flipped onto the ground in mere seconds, and he just used one hand and one foot. Face it, you can't defend yourself from the evil that is seeking you."

"Then I can become stronger! Just watch me!"

"If it's power you seek, then I suggest you come with me to my Realm. My world isn't as prosperous as yours, but I'm sure you'll find it to be very... welcoming."

"And if I don't?" I asked boldly.

"Well, I guess I can let the Reaper Society, the group that is hunting you down, chow down on your delicious flesh. Reapers love the taste of that red fairy blood you create. I'm surprised that I'm not killing you right here!"

I shuddered. Were Reapers really this creepy, eating the flesh of fairies? I didn't want to go with him, but he seemed to be on Shuto's side, so I guess I could trust him.

"Fine. Take me to your world. But after I meet your companions, I want you to send me back here, okay?"

Mitsuhiro pulled his hood back over his face. "Sure thing." He waved his hand towards the wooden door, and a black portal opened.

A portal of darkness.

He walked up to it and stepped through it. "Come on! I'm not waiting all night!" He held one of his hands out from the darkness. I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me into the shadows.

It took me a while to realize where I was. There was no light to support my vision. After my eyesight cleared however, I knew exactly where I was. Huge black birds flew in the sky, and black flowers blossomed on the rolling gray grass hills. Surely the Goddesses had sent me to my own personal Hell.

I was in... the Dark Realm itself.


	5. Living Hell:The Dark Realm & the Reapers

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 5: Living Hell- The Dark Realm and the Reapers**

This place was my living Hell alright. There was hardly any light, and whatever light there was, it was obscured by black clouds. Black demons roamed the grounds, and whatever sort of creature they were, I could tell just by looking at them that they would devour any living being on sight.

"Stay close to me," Mitsuhiro instructed. He was so much taller than me, it was like I was with an older brother or something like that. "You know, that robe you're wearing may prove useful until we get to the base. If anyone finds us, I'll just tell them you're a new member of the Society. The black robe will be sure to trick them."

"Whatever, just get me to where you want me to go, and fast!" I whimpered. "This place is too evil for me!"

"Hey, I find this place to be rather comforting. Just listen to the marvelous screech of the Twilight Hawks. It sounds so amazing, it's like music to my ears."

"You call that music?" I asked. "It sounds like a cow getting run over by an elephant!"

"No need to be so graphic!" Mitsuhiro snickered. "It doesn't sound that bad!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"You really don't like this darkness, huh?"

"Of course I don't! If I stay here too long, I think I might go insane!"

"Go ahead. I think that would be funny to watch."

"Very funny. I'll have you know that it's not pretty when I snap."

"Whatever, let's just go, okay? The base isn't that far from here." He began to walk away, so I chased after him and held onto his arm. "Hey, let go!" he growled.

"No! This place is terrible! I'm not letting go!" I screamed.

He sighed. "Fine. You're such a sissy."

When we reached the base, I literally ran inside, fell to the floor, yelled "Land!", and kissed the floor. As I did this, Mitsuhiro kicked me in the butt, knocking my face to the ground.

"Could you at least _try_ and act a little your age?" he muttered, and pulled his robe off. He wore somewhat modern clothes underneath: a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and black boots. A silver dogtag was chained around his neck, and his jeans had a couple of rips in the knees. He made a whistling nose with his teeth.

"Yo, Uzuki, Yashiro, Shuto! I'm home!" He set his robe on a nearby chair and stomped the floor with his foot. His stomp was greeted with yells and laughter, as three more robed people came into the hallway, their faces hidden by hoods.

"Mitsuhiro! Thank goodness you're back!" the first one cheered. The person lifted their hands up and removed their hood, revealing a girl with short black hair and a dark face. Her hair had red streaks through the side and on the bangs, and her eyes were a deep black, like Mitsuhiro's.

"Ah, I see you brought Link along," the second one said. This person also removed their hood, who also turned out to be a girl. She had long black hair, with a hairband along the top, and her eyes were thin, and again, black. She had a somewhat reckless look in her eyes.

The last person removed their hood, who turned out to be Shuto.

"Link Nohansen Hyrule!" the girl with the short hair shreaked. "I can't believe I'm seeing you right now! I've always wanted to meet you!" She bowed. "My name is Uzuki Kasahara! I'm the one who made you your Time Gate!"

I smiled at her and pulled the diary out from my robe. "Thank you so much for it, I really appreciate it."

She made a really big smile. Then she was pushed out of the way by the other girl, who I'm guessing was Yashiro.

"So, the Hero of Time has decided to pay us a visit," she snickered.

"I didn't _decide _anything! This _freak_ here just decided to drag me here against my will!"

Mitsuhiro gave me a funny look. "Um, buddy, I think you better watch your tongue," he muttered. "First things first, you _agreed _to come with me, I didn't drag you here. And refer to me as a _freak_ again, and you'll wish you were never born. I'll erase you into dust!"

I groaned. "Please, could you just please tell me why I'm here and then take me back home? Byrne is probably wondering where I am, and this darkness is really getting to me!"

"Maybe _I_ should explain," Uzuki offered.

"Please do!"

She giggled. "Just follow me." She walked out from the hall and through an old wooden door. Mitsuhiro, Shuto, Yashiro and I followed her into a small living room. A couch and three armchairs were set up in a circle around a coffee table. On the table, maps, notebooks, and scraps of paper with drawings all over them were spread around.

Yashiro picked up all the papers and set them down under the table. She sat down at one of the chairs, Uzuki sat on the couch, and Shuto and Mitsuhiro sat down on the other two chairs. I sat down next to Uzuki.

"What should we explain first?" Shuto asked me.

"Well, I'd like to know what you people are exactly," I replied.

"I may as well answer that one!" Yashiro laughed. "We're Reapers, people who have died with revenge in their hearts, and we live here in the Dark Realm. We were originally humans, but we were all murdered, which I do not exactly wish to speak about."

"Alright, go on."

"Our wings are black like Fallen Angels, but unlike an Angel, our wings are also torn. This is to signify that we're fallen creatures, ones that don't go to heaven or hell. There are actually some Fallen Angels and Angels living on the grounds of Hyrule and beyond. Anyways, when a human dies, if they have feelings of revenge in their hearts, they will become Reapers. The abilities that we had as humans become enhanced, making us powerful creatures."

"So, like, your enhanced ability is...?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Again, not willing to share that information. Either way, the Reapers are one of the most powerful creatures on the planet, the way we kill people is through erasure."

"Erasure?"

"We attack the person, and then we turn them into microscopic dust, which transfers their energy to ours, allowing us to live longer. Reapers have a certain duty in the balance of the world. We have to kill at least three people a month in order for a life span contract to stay straight. If we didn't fill our quota, we wouldn't have enough energy to live, and the contract we sign when we die would be null and void. When a human dies with revenge in their hearts, their tainted souls are sent to the Reaper Society, where the new Reaper must sign a contract stating that they will kill at least three people each month. This contract also states that a new human soul will be put into a new body, so they look different than they did when they were humans. I didn't always used to look like this. Neither did Mitsuhiro, Uzuki or Shuto."

"So, let me get this straight... when a human dies, and has revenge in their hearts, their souls are sent to a place called the Reaper Society. When there, they sign a contract stating that they have to kill at least three people a month, or else they will die without enough energy, and their contract will be null and void. After signing the contract, the soul is put into a new body, and they become full Reapers?"

Uzuki nodded and pulled off her robe. "Exactly. I died a few years ago, around the same time Yashiro and Mitsuhiro died. Shuto is a little younger than us. I was seventeen when I died, Yashiro was sixteen, and Mitsuhiro was nineteen. We're the same age as Reapers as we were as humans."

I gave her a look of sympathy, and then I noticed a deep scar on the right side of her face. I looked at Yashiro. She had the exact same scar, but on the left side. She took off her robe as well. They were both wearing dark clothing, and their wings were gone. I guess Reapers could put their wings away too.

"So exactly what does this have to do with me?" I asked.

"There are two men in command at the Reaper Society," Mitsuhiro began. "The head of the Society is a man known as Iwata Hashimoto. Second in command is Jun Kaniji, who just _happens_ to be Shuto's older brother. That's what makes our mission so dangerous, because the enemy could find out our location. All the have to do is interrogate Jun, and they have half of the answers. There's another thing though, that makes our mission almost impossible. Our contract of the Reapers also states that a Reaper is to destroy any fairy on contact. This rule is very loose however, and only the most serious Reapers ever follow it. Because we're helping you, this puts all five of us in danger, including you. If the Society finds out that we were helping you, they'll kill you and us."

"Why are you helping me then? Why don't you just kill me while you have the chance?" I was willing to take that risk.

"Only Shuto, Uzuki, and Yashiro are helping you in this one. I don't want any part of this. I still hate the fairies, no matter what my comrades think." Mitsuhiro stood up and left the room. I heard another door slam.

"Sorry about that," Shuto said quietly. "He's had a longtime grudge against the fairies. Anyways, my brother, Jun, and his captain Iwata want to awaken a darkness, a power that resides here in the Dark Realm. But to do this, they need the blood of the Hero of Time to break the seal on this power. And of course, the power also needs a vessel, or a body to reside in."

I swallowed in fear.

"And the vessel they chose," Shuto continued, "is you. They will stop at nothing to get their hands on your blood and awaken the darkness. And there's nothing stopping them from using you as a vessel as well."

I whimpered. Uzuki jumped up from the couch and in front of me, holding her arms out.

"Shuto!" Uzuki yelled. "Don't scare him! If the Society wants Link, they'll have to take him through my dead body!"

"Uzuki! That's suicide!" Yashiro snapped. "They'll kill you the first chance they get!"

"Then let them kill me! I'm not letting them get the Hero of Time!"

I put my hand on Uzuki's shoulder. "It's alright, Uzuki. I won't let them use the darkness to take over your world or Hyrule."

She sighed. "Speaking of Hyrule, how's Princess Zelda?"

I flinched. I had never spoken to Zelda in nearly three years. "I don't know," I replied. "I haven't seen her."

"I see." Uzuki turned towards Shuto. "Hey Shuto, we should probably take Link back to Termina soon, huh?"

"I'm not going back yet," I interrupted.

The three Reapers looked at me in shock.

"Link, are you crazy!" Shuto yelled. "You can't stay here!"

"Hey, I read a story about one of my ancestors, the first one to wield the Master Sword, and he was able to travel between the Dark Realm and Hyrule just fine! If he can do it, so can I!"

"Hm, you've got guts kid," Yashiro mumbled.

"I want to learn more about the Dark Realm," I continued. "Please, if you could just let me stay one night."

Shuto rubbed his chin. He thought over it for a few moments. "But what about that Byrne guy? Won't he be worried about you if you're not back at the carnival by morning?"

"His name is Byrne Takuda. You're right, I never thought about that."

Uzuki's face brightened. "Just leave that to me! It's been a while since I've drawn a person, but I'll give it a shot!"

I gave her a funny look. "What are you talking about?"

"I might as well tell you my enhanced ability. When I was a human, I was one of the best artists in high school. When I died, this talent was multiplied, and now I can bring things to life with my artwork!"

I looked at her in amazement. "Really? No way!"

"If you could just wait here, I'll go get my drawing materials."

Uzuki and I sat across from each other, a sketchpad with pencils, pencil crayons, a ruler, and a pen laying on the coffee table between us. Uzuki studied my face, and then she picked up her pencil and brought it to the paper. She began to sketch out the outline of my head. Then she drew the outline of my body, but she shaped it to look like my robe. She drew my eyes out lightly, and then sketched them in with her pencil, including every little detail as she went. Once she was finished of the eyes, she took the pen and drew the All-Night Mask over the face. She made sure to add every little coil.

"That's amazing," I said quietly as she continued to draw.

"Thank you," she replied, keeping her eyes on the paper. "I've been drawing since I was a toddler. I began this style of drawing when I turned nine."

"It looks great."

Uzuki continued to scribble out the details in the drawing, making sure to darken the robe and add the little ornamental designs too. Then she stopped. "Um, how tall are you?" she asked.

"What? I think I'm about four foot two. Why?"

She took her pencil and ruler and traced a straight vertical line next to the drawing. She labeled four foot two on the line. "I have to make sure that the substitution is the right size, otherwise it would look weird. If the substitute for you is too small or too big, Byrne would become suspicious. People don't just grow or shrink a foot over night."

"Good point."

Once Uzuki finished the sketch, she pulled out her pencil crayons and began to color. "This will only take a few more minutes." She colored in the robe with black, along with the mask. Then she took out a red and white pencils and began coloring in the eyes on the mask.

"So, why didn't you just erase the eyes and face underneath the mask, instead of just drawing over it?" I asked. "I can still see a few colors where you drew my eyes, nose and mouth."

Uzuki finished coloring the mask, and then set the pencils down. "The reason I do that is because when you get back home, Byrne is obviously going to ask you to take you mask off, right? I don't want the mask to be stuck on the substitute's face. If that happened, we'd be in trouble. So, I simply drew the mask over the eyes, so that when he takes the mask off, his face will be underneath."

"You really have to take a lot into consideration when drawing, huh?"

"Every detail counts, no matter what you're drawing. When drawing, if you miss one detail, it could mess the entire thing up. By the way, Link, why do you want to stay here for the night? You're the kind of person I figured would go insane if they were here too long."

"Well, when Mitsuhiro brought me here, I did a lot of thinking about it. And when I met you and Yashiro and Shuto, I realized that this world shouldn't be taken for granted. You guys do a lot to keep the balance of our worlds right. If those two from the Society, Jun and Iwata, want to bring a powerful darkness back to life, that could upset the balance, and our worlds could be lost forever. I don't want that happening to Hyrule, Termina, or here."

"That's what makes you so special, Link," Uzuki muttered. "You think about others before you think about yourself. And you just go with the flow." She stopped coloring in the drawing. She held it up for me to see. "How's that? Think it'll fool Byrne?"

"I think it's perfect," I answered. "So, how do you get it to come to life?"

"First, I have to write down some of your data." Uzuki picked up a black pen that had blue twilight markings on it and began writing words on the side of the sheet.

_Name: Link Nohansen Hyrule  
Age: 13  
Height: 4"2  
Weight: 115 pounds  
Race: Fairy_

"There!" Uzuki hissed.

She rotated the drawing on the coffee table and placed her hands down hard on the sides of the paper. Then, out of nowhere, a blue, yellow, and white light burst from the drawing, followed by a huge flash. I closed my eyes from the intensity. When I opened them, I was amazed to see a small boy wearing a black cloak and an All-Night Mask. He was pretty much exactly my height when I stood up.

"Ta-da!" Uzuki laughed. "And that's the power of my enhanced ability!"

"Amazing!" I gasped in astonishment. It was perfect! Byrne couldn't tell us apart even if he tried! "So, we'll send this one back to Termina while I stay here?"

"Exactly! He can act and talk just like you too, it's the perfect plan."

Shuto walked into the living room from his room. Yashiro followed from her room.

"Hey, it worked!" Shuto said. Uzuki gave him a cold look.

"Of course it works, you simpleton! What else could possible happen?"

"Well, it could be mutated and wreak havoc all over the Dark Realm," Yashiro snickered. "That's art for you Uzuki, never know what it'll do."

Uzuki stuck her tongue at Yashiro. "Good one, Yashiro-chan."

"Well, I try."

"So, Yashiro, do you want to help me send this thing to Termina?"

"Sure thing, as long as you buy me some spicy quesadilla chips! I'm running low again!"

"No problem. Shuto, you can show Link his room for the night while me and Yashiro take this substitute to Termina, okay?"

"Alright."

Uzuki and Yashiro spread their wings, opened a portal of darkness, and left the house, taking the puppet with them.

Shuto laughed. "Who knows what that puppet is going to do in your Realm. Oh well, it can't be that bad. Let's go Link, I'll show you where you're sleeping for the night."

I swallowed. Who knows what the puppet will do?


	6. Link's Puppet

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 6: Link's Puppet**

"Alright, so you know what your objective is?" the tall black-haired woman asked. She scared me. It was like her eyes could see into my soul.

"Um, I think so," I replied.

"We'll be back to pick you up tomorrow, okay? the other girl said. She had much kinder eyes, and she was a gentle person. She was also my creator. "Hey, we should name you!"

"Uzuki, this thing isn't a pet. He's a puppet for our use," the other girl laughed. What a beast. Sure, I was made to be a puppet, but I still had a heart, right?

"Oh, come on Yashiro-chan, lighten up! I think we should name him. Let's see... L? No, that won't do. Something simple, like... Kon!"

"Kon? What the hell kinda name is that? It sounds demented." Uzuki turned her mad expression to the girl.

"I-I like Kon," I whispered. Uzuki looked back at me and smiled.

"Well then, Kon it is. And when you come back from this mission, you can stay with me, okay?"

"I-I'd like that." I attempted a smile, but I still didn't have much control over my body, so it came out crooked. "Sorry, I don't have much control yet," I said quietly.

"Don't worry, you'll have control in no time!" Uzuki said, and hugged me. She felt like... an older sister. She released herself from our hug, and waved her hand, opening a shadow portal. "Now, go on. You have a mission to complete." She turned me towards the portal, and pushed me through.

The next few moments were filled with darkness, and then, bright sunlight. I landed hard on the grass outside the city walls of Clock Town. It was so bright in this world, it took me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I could see a high brick wall, and a huge tower with flags and balloons still attached to it from the carnival. I looked around to see green trees and light-colored flowers blooming everywhere. I looked east to see the very tip of the sunlight coming in over the canyon. It was still early morning, probably around six.

"Wow, this place is amazing!" I said to myself. The air felt light and clean, and not heavy and dark like the air in the Dark Realm. I walked through the gate to Clock Town, to be greeted with hundreds of people running through the streets. They were all so happy, and different too. They wore bright colored clothing, and their faces had expressions of happiness and excitement. Some of them had children holding their hands, and others were carrying balloons and cakes. This must have been the South Gate of Clock Town, the mostly crowded area of the town. I looked up to see the Clock Tower and its wooden clock slowly moving clockwise. The pillar at the top was still down. The carnival was still going on.

I walked past some food stalls, looking at some of the things they had on sale. Fish hung to dry from the roofs of the stalls, and bread, cheese, and everything else imaginable was set on the table. All that I could think of was the sweet smell of the pastries they had.

"There you are!"

My thoughts were interrupted by the yell of a huge man with black hair and an angry expression. My heart sank. The man walked up to me, a mask that looked like a fox on his head.

"I've been looking all over for you, Link!" he yelled. This man must have been Byrne. "I haven't seen you all night! Where have you been?"

I tried hard to think up an excuse. "You know, here and there," I replied. "How was the carnival, Byrne?" I can't believe I was actually pulling this trick off!

"It was fun, as usual! Hey, what do you say we go buy ourselves some cake?" he offered.

"Alright!" I laughed. Awesome! I'd get a chance to actually eat some cake!

Byrne chuckled and led me to the nearest pastry stall. He handed the man at the booth twenty rupees, and he handed us both a piece of double layer chocolate cake. My mouth was already watering! Byrne and I sat down at a table near a cafe and happily ate up our cake. It was so delicious! I didn't even think such a delicious thing existed!

Byrne gave me a funny look as I ate my cake. "Gee, Link, you're acting like you've never tasted chocolate cake before! I buy you one every week, don't I?"

Uh oh. Busted.

"Um, well, I haven't had a piece of cake in such a long time, and I never had a chance to eat anything before the carnival, so I'm starved!"

"Huh, okay," he said. Was he already on to me? "By the way Link, after the carnival, we're going to start renovating my store with the money you earned from the Osmonts. We'll hire some carpenters to help out, and then we should be all finished in a couple of weeks."

"Sure," I replied without hesitating. Did the real Link actually do this much work? I took another bite from my cake.

"Are you feeling alright Link? You seem a bit different."

"W-What do you mean?"

"I don't know, you just seem a little different. You're just not acting yourself."

"I'm fine, Byrne."

"Alright, if you say so."

I stood up from the table and turned towards Byrne's shop to leave.

"Leaving already?" Byrne asked.

"Yeah. The carnival's almost over, so I'm going to go get some sleep." The real reason I wanted sleep was so that I wouldn't have to talk to anyone until I woke up, which meant that Uzuki would come pick me up faster. "Good night, Byrne."

I opened the door to his shop, and was surprised when I was pulled up off the ground. I screamed. I looked up to see a rope tied around my ankle, and I looked down to see five boys staring up at me.

"Gotcha!" one of the boys yelled.

"Yeah! We caught him!" another one yelled.

"What's going on? Release me at once, you hooligans!" I screamed at them. I could feel the blood rushing to my head. My ankle started to get sore.

"We defeated Link!" the third boy yelled, and he stuck his tongue at me. "I knew we could do it! Now you have to do what we tell you!"

"What makes you think I'll do what you say?" I laughed.

They began poking me with sharp sticks, and made me spin slowly so each child got a turn to poke me.

"Ow! Watch it! That hurts! This is no way to treat a living being! Hey, don't poke there!"

The boys laughed at me, and continued to poke their sticks.

"We're the Bombers, and you can't tell _us_ what to do! We're free as birds, and we're stronger than you!" That must have been some kind of chant, because after he said that, all the Bombers made a victory screech.

"Please let me go!" I groaned.

"You can't defeat us! We strong warriors!" the leader said.

"You better shut up. A closed mouth shall gather no foot."

But the kid continued to insult me. "You're weak, falling for a trap like that!"

"Oh yeah?" I gathered up all the saliva in my throat...

...and spit right into the kid's open mouth.

The kid gave a look of surprise. "Aah! He spit in my mouth! Disgusting! Get it off, get it off! It tastes so gross!"

"Kid, you asked for it," I said, bursting into laughter as I spoke. Some of the other Bombers began to laugh with me.

"Stop laughing!" the leader ordered. "It's not one bit funny! Yuck! It's so gross!"

"You deserved it for tying me up like this. Now let me go, or the next time I spit, it'll be in your eye."

"You're no fun!" he yelled. He left the building. "Come on you guys! Just leave him there!" The other Bombers walked out the door.

"What? Hey, get me down from here! Hey! Come back here and cut me down! Please! The blood is starting to affect my brain..."


	7. Back in Termina

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 7: Back in Termina**

_Majora's Mask floats in front of me, its looming, glowing yellow eyes staring at me. _

_I'm weak, and I don't know how much longer I can fight. Blood runs down the side of my face, and a wound shoots right through my chest._

_I have no choice._

_I have to release my new power._

_I pull out the cursed Fierce Deity's Mask, and I place it on my face. I scream, as the power surges through my body, and I begin to change. My hair changes to a whitish-silver color, and red and blue markings appear on my forehead and jawline. I become taller, like I'm an adult again, and my sword is replaced with an evil blue sword, its metal twisted around to the end of a sharp point. My green tunic changes to a black tunic with armor, and a moon and triangle mark appears on the breastplate. My leggings turn black, and I lose my shield. I fall to the floor in pain. _

_The Mask floats around my motionless body, the boss remains following it, and then I lift myself from the floor. I hold my sword towards the mask as he flies around me, and as he does, I roll around him and attack him on the backside. The mask immediately falls to the ground._

_I've won._

_Or have I?_

_Majora's Mask lifts itself up from the floor, its body weak, and from the last of its strength, summons arms, legs, and an extra eyeball from the top rim. Ugh, creepy. The new body immediately takes off, running around the area in a blur. I can't tell where it is, it's moving too fast. I close my eyes, stand still, put my sword away, and focus. I can see the vital signs of the mask, the blurry red lines moving everywhere. But then I notice its pattern, how it slows down to mock me every few seconds. When it slows down again, I pull out my sword and immediately lunge at the creature. It doesn't go down in one hit this time, but it was getting pretty weak. I attempt to read his vital signs again, and then when it slows down, I attack again. _

_The creature falls to the ground, but then it gets back up, its muscles in its arms and legs growing thicker. From the eyeball on the top rim of the mask, a head grows out, its eyes evil and cruel. Long whips protude from its arms._

_The battle still isn't over._

_It snaps one of its whips at me, grabbing my leg and pulling me down to the floor. My sword flies from my hand and lands on the other side of the room. I'm stuck, unable to free myself from the monster's grasp. But I start to feel another power surging inside of me, and I immediately kick the monster in the face with my other leg. The monster recoils in pain, and I reach my hand out to my sword, but it's too far for me to get there in time. I focus my energy on my hand and the sword at the same time, and then the blade disappears and appears in my hand. I take the sword and stab the monster with it, and it falls backwards. _

_It gets back up again, and gives out a loud scream._

_This was my last chance._

_I focus my energy to my blade, and it begins to glow white and blue. I swing the sword through the air, sending a blue shockwave towards Majora's Mask. The wave drives the monster into the wall. It attempts to get back up, but it's too weak, and as it walks towards me, it falls forward, dies, and disappears into darkness._

_Finally. I've won the battle._

_I look at the palm of my left hand, wondering where all that power came from. I look at the Triforce, and it's glowing brightly. I smile, and remove the mask from my face._

_But there's something else here._

_Something evil._

_A creature that has a heart of darkness._

_But he looks like me._

_He takes his blade and drives it through my body._

I screamed, and bolted out of bed. I held my face in my hands, feeling the sweat run down my forehead. That was the worst dream I could _ever _have. It was ten times worse than the dreams I had in the past three years. The bedroom light immediately turned on, and Uzuki and Shuto walked in.

"Link!" Uzuki cried, and ran towards me. "Link, are you all right?"

I took a deep breath. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine," I whimpered. Shuto brought me a glass of water. I drank all of it in a single sip.

"What happened?" Shuto asked.

"I just had a nightmare."

"Must have been some nightmare to make you scream like that."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Uzuki asked.

"No, I'm fine, it was just a nightmare. Go back to sleep, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. What time is it anyways?"

"It's four thirty in the morning," Shuto replied.

"Really? Sorry for waking you two up."

"Nah, it's fine!" Uzuki giggled. "I was just about to head out for morning training anyways!"

"At four in the morning?"

"Sure! I gotta keep my defense up! Can't go losing in a battle!"

"Okay. Good night guys," I said, and rolled myself back into my blankets. The light turned off, and the door closed

The rest of my dreams were invaded by Shadow Me.

When I woke up, any sunlight that was in the Dark Realm streamed through my window, followed by bits of floating twilight. I sat up in my bed and looked at my bedside table. My Time Gate was resting on the wood, with the pen and the ink. A small note was left next to it.

Don't forget to write in your Time Gate! After you've finished writing, come to the living room so we can all explain the Dark Realm to you.  
Uzuki

I smiled and opened the diary, and began to write. I wrote about how I ended up in the Dark Realm, and the guidelines to how a human became a Reaper. I also wrote a bit about Kon, and made a bit of info about my dream. Then I drew a sketch of what my Fierce Deity Form looked like.

When I finished drawing, I realized that the Deity actually somewhat scared me.

His eyes were thin and cruel, and his face was terrifying.

I didn't want to meet this creature again.

I closed my Time Gate and put it back into my bag. I pulled the quilted blanket off the bed, stood up, and put the blanket back. I had fallen asleep in my robe the previous night. I walked out to the living room to see Uzuki drinking a cup of coffee, and Yashiro eating quesadilla chips. Shuto was sitting in one of the armchairs, playing a long silver flute with a red ribbon attached to the end. Mitsuhiro was just sitting there, making no noise. When I entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

"Good morning Link," Shuto said, pulling himself away from his flute. "How was your sleep?"

"It was good," I lied.

Uzuki raised her eyebrow at me. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Because that's not what your aura is telling me."

"What?" I asked, confused with her words.

"Come sit down, we'll give you a little bit more information about us. But we have to make it quick, I still have to pick Kon up from Clock Town."

I sat down on the couch. Uzuki handed me a cup with hot chocolate inside. It smelled so good, its warm aroma instantly floating up to my nose. Uzuki slowly sipped her coffee. She made a grossed out face.

"Ugh, it tastes as gross as it usually does," she complained.

"Here, try this," Yashiro said, and dropped four sugar cubes into the coffee. She stirred it up with a spoon. "That should be sweet enough, right?"

"Thanks, Yashiro-chan." Uzuki took another sip, smiled and set the cup on the coffee table. "Now, where should we start?"

"How about we talk about our enhanced abilities?" Shuto asked."Link is willing to risk his lives for us. I think we can trust him."

"Alright, I'll tell him about us and our abilities," Uzuki sighed. "In our little group, we all fight with different styles. Shuto fights with sound and his hands. Yashiro fights with her hands and two special weapons: her Avenger Blade, and her kunai gun. A kunai is a special throwing knife, usually used by ninjas and assassins. It's pretty much the same thing, but attached to a gun. I fight with a blossom scythe, and I know a bit of martial arts too, and I specialize in ninja tools, like shurikens, or ninja stars."

"What about Mitsuhiro?" I interrupted.

Uzuki looked at Mitsuhiro, who was gazing out the window.

"Go ahead," he replied. Uzuki mouthed some words at him. I was sure she said "thank you".

"Mitsuhiro fights with his hands, a katana, and another special weapon: a huge piercing blade with several holes and a clock read with Roman numerals attached to the side. This weapon is called the Time Distorter. If he pierces someone's body with it, he can take away time from that person's remaining life span. There are only a few left in the world, and they are only given to those blessed with the ability to control time. You should have one too, Link."

"No, I don't have one. The only thing I have that can control time is my Ocarina of Time."

"That's what we call a Time Distorter. But yours is used to travel to the past and future. It's different from Mitsuhiro's weapon." Uzuki stretched her arms. "Well, that's pretty much it about our fighting styles. And we already know that your only style is sword-fighting."

Mitsuhiro snickered in disgust. "Yeah, look where that's got him." He smirked.

"Mitsuhiro!" Shuto yelled. "They only practice sword-fighting in Hyrule! Martiel arts aren't practiced! You can't blame him for something he can't learn!"

"That's beside the point," Uzuki interrupted, breaking the battle between Shuto and Mitsuhiro. "Link, is there anything else you wish to know? We can tell you anything, with exceptions."

"Let's see," I said, trying to think of any other question for them. "Because you guys are in the Dark Realm, does that mean you control darkness?"

"That's right," Mitsuhiro replied coldly. "The Goddesses control light, as well as the people chosen by the Triforce, and we stand on the other side of the mirror, controlling the darkness of the world. We keep the darkness from taking over your world, and you keep the light from taking over ours. That's why we have a little bit of light streaming through our clouds. We still need a portion of light to survive, like Hyrule needs twilight. The twilight in Hyrule is very thin, and usually appears as shadows at night. But when the balance tips and goes out of control, the twilight forms barriers in your world, separating you from the darkness. Whoever is trapped in these barriers are sure to disappear as spirits."

"So, what would happen if the balance tilted the other way, if the light overtook this world?"

Mitsuhiro remained silent for a moment. "If light was to come here... well, I don't think anyone knows what will happen. An incident like that has never occured before. I'm guessing this world would crumble into dust. We may never know."

"If light took over this world... I'm guessing that it would be the same as twilight in Hyrule. Barriers of light."

"Good prediction."

I stood up from the couch and looked at Uzuki. "Can you guys send me back to Termina now?"

"Can't," Mitsuhiro said coldly, interrupting Uzuki as she was about to answer.

"What?" Uzuki yelled. "But we have to send him there! It's where he belongs!"

"Not anymore. Jun nearly attacked him while he was out in the forest, but you and Yashiro stopped him. It's obvious that he knows Link's whereabouts now. If he heads back to Clock Town, Jun will just destroy the entire place to get him. We have to send him somewhere else."

"But where?" Yashiro asked. "You're not possibly thinking of sending him to Hyrule! That'll be the first place they'll look!"

"No, it's not. I can tell what their motives are. They'll look for Link when he's in small towns. If he was in a place like Hyrule, a land blessed in light, Jun, Iwata and the rest of their cronies would be weakened, and would have to lay low here, in the Dark Realm. Reapers have to use their old human bodies if they remain in the light world too long, and then they lose their powers."

"Sounds painful," I muttered back. "By the way, Uzuki, you said you were going out for morning training a few hours ago. At four in the morning! What were you doing?"

"Oh, you know, shuriken throwing, hitting targets with my feet, practicing with my scythe. You know, training. When Shuto and I were talking to you this morning, Yashiro and Mitsuhiro were already outside throwing shurikens at each other."

"That seems dangerous." I shuddered.

"We're Reapers, we're already dead! It doesn't make much difference!" Uzuki laughed. Her laugh was followed by an immediate frown. She flicked her gaze to Mitsuhiro. "Wait, what about Kon? I should be picking him up by now! We have to get him back here before we drop Link in Hyrule!"

"Wait a minute, hold on!" I yelled. "What if I don't want to go back to Hyrule? What if I want to stay in Termina, with Byrne, and the Skull Kid?"

"Link, maybe Princess Zelda can help you again, like last time?" Uzuki asked. "She's still young, but maybe you two can work together to help us stop the darkness."

"So what do you want me to tell Zelda? 'I'm back from Termina, I just met these creatures of darkness, I want to help them stop the darkness.'? That doesn't sound right at all!"

"She'll understand, trust me. And maybe, if you come back someday, we can teach you some martial arts and shuriken throwing!"

"There's no doubt that Link will be coming back," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "If he's going to be working with us, then we're going to be seeing each other often."

"Are you alright with going back to Hyrule, Link?" Shuto asked. He was holding a small black kitten. Where did it come from?

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then I guess I'll drop you off," Uzuki said softly, and lowered her head. She walked to the first hallway and left the building.

"Guess this is goodbye for now, huh, Shuto?" I asked him.

"I guess so."

"I'll see you later, Yashiro."

"Don't get into any trouble! Or you'll pay dearly!" She held up her fist.

I smiled at her, and then looked at Mitsuhiro, who was still gazing out the window.

"See you, Mitsuhiro."

"Whatever," he mumbled, and left for his room.

I sighed and grabbed my bag, and then I left the house, entering the immense twilight again.

I think I was actually starting to like this place...

**A Very Short Interlude**

"Uzuki, why are we here?" Link asked the Reaper.

"We have to pick up Kon. Keep that hood over your face so that no one recognizes you. I don't want people to think there are two Links."

"Ugh, fine." I pulled the heavy hood over my head, and pulled up the zipper so that no one could see my face without seeing shadows.

We walked the streets for a few minutes, until Uzuki stopped.

"Um, where is Byrne's shop exactly?" she asked.

"What? The way you were walking around, acting so confident, I figured you knew!"

"Just tell me where it is! I don't need you to insult me!"

"Fine. It's in East Clock Town, the first building on the right."

Uzuki made a left turn, and we entered the eastern end of Clock Town. She looked at the first store to the right, and then entered the building.

We were shocked to see Kon hanging off the ceiling by his ankle.

Uzuki poked him, and he snapped his eyes open.

"What happened to you?" she asked the puppet.

He remained silent.

"Kon?" I asked.

"Please cut me down," he replied.


	8. Zelda

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 8: Zelda**

Who knew that my 'little adventure' to Kalasia would turn out to be such a big mess?

I found myself hovering above the fields of Hyrule, my little body being carried by Uzuki's arms. Her wings gracefully flew us around the kingdom, the flapping noises loud and muffled. She carried me around Lon Lon Ranch, and past Kakariko. Eventually, she dropped me off in front of Hyrule Castle.

"Go find Princess Zelda," she instructed as she set me down on the grass. "I'm sorry for dropping you off here at sunset. If I tried to bring you here during the day, there wouldn't be any twilight to support my wings."

"That's okay, Uzuki," I said.

She smiled at me. "You know, you'd make a great member for our organization."

"Organization?"

"Yeah. Me, Mitsuhiro, Yashiro, and Shuto. We haven't thought of a name for ourselves yet, but we want to stop Jun and Iwata from taking over our world and Hyrule."

"You never know, I might see you guys again."

"You're right. Goodbye, Link." She began flapping her wings, and she took off into the darkness, leaving behind torn black feathers. I picked up one and examined it. It was shiny, like silver, and the edges were soft and fine. I opened my Time Gate and put the feather inside one of the pages, for safekeeping.

I turned towards the market walls, the gate already closed and the mote filled with water. I would have to wait until morning, but I knew I didn't have that kind of time. And I wasn't looking forward to fighting off a whole family of Stalchilds for eight hours.

I pulled out my ocarina, and brought it to my lips. It was hard for me to remember the tune, but once I did, I played the Sun's Song. Light began to circle around me, and when the light disappeared, the sun was up, and the market gate was open. I walked past the gate, and greeted the two guards on the other side.

"That sure was a short night, don't you think?" the guard on the left asked the other guard.

"Huh, I didn't notice, I was too busy fighting off Stalchilds while I walked back home to Kakariko. There have been more of them lately."

"You should really try and buy a house in the market so you don't have to walk here everyday!"

"I can't, I have too big of a family to support. I can't afford it."

"Too bad. I heard that someone was mauled by a Wolfos the other day, and last week, the deaths from Skulltulas have risen too!"

"It's a dark age for Hyrule..."

I frowned as I walked away from them. It was true: more monsters had been appearing in the last month. And there were different kinds too: Wolfos, Lizafoes, Skulltulas, and Dodongos. The populations of these monsters were slowly growing, and in the weirdest places too. I hoped that Zelda was alright.

I walked down the streets of the marketplace, the place buzzing with people and excitement. Dogs, both kept well and stray, ran through the alleyways, followed by little children. Business men were selling anything they could possible think of, and as usual, people were crowded around their stalls, offering as much money that they had for what the men were selling.

As I traveled through the market, some people stopped to look at me. It was like I was here for the first time, just a boy from the forest. But this time, they weren't staring at a lonely Kokiri boy; they were staring at the Hero of Time. I smiled at all of them, said hello to a few children, even signed a few autographs!

But what really made my day was when I came across Princess Zelda.

She was examining some daisies at a flower booth, and standing next to her was Impa. She was still my age, but she seemed a little different. She wast taller, with blond hair that fell over her eyes and shoulders. Brown streaks ran through her bangs and the back of her hair. She was wearing a blue dress with brown boots, and Triforce earrings hung from her fairy ears. She picked up a daisy from the booth, and then turned to Impa for an opinion.

I was almost nervous to approach her. What would she say? What would _I _say?

Good Din, she looked pretty...

I took a deep breath, and tried to sort out my words in my head as I walked towards her.

"H-Hi Zelda," I stuttered. She turned around to look at me, and then her eyes brightened. She smiled and hugged me, her arms wrapped around my neck.

"Link! I knew you'd come back someday!" she laughed. It sounded like she was crying a little bit. I was taken off guard by her hug, but I wrapped my arms around her anyways.

"It's... good to see you too Zelda," I whispered. I looked up at Impa, who was smiling down at me.

"So, where have you been all this time, child?" Impa asked me.

Zelda released herself from her hug. "Yeah! Have you been in Hyrule?"

"I've... been away... in Termina." I was still shocked about how pretty she looked. But I was also really happy on the inside.

"That land is quite a long way away," Impa said. "I heard it was cursed."

"It was. But I saw to that. The place has been clean of monsters for nearly three years now."

Impa crossed her arms. "You just can't stay away from trouble for long, can you?"

"Nope. And that's the way I like it!"

Zelda giggled and then looked at Impa. "Can we take Link to the castle? I want us to catch up."

"I don't see any harm in that," Impa replied.

"Come on, Link!" Zelda grabbed my hand and ran, pulling me to the castle. She changed her appearance a little bit, but she was still the overactive princess I knew from when we were younger. We ran to the castle, until we reached the castle gates, where two guards were standing.

"Greetings, Princess!" one of the guards bellowed.

"Good morning to you!" the other one said.

"Hello you two," Zelda said. "I'd like to go back to the castle."

"By all means! But, the boy..."

"What about him?" Zelda snapped.

"I don't think you should be bringing outsiders onto the grounds."

"He's a very close friend of mine, and he also happens to be the Hero of Time! He has just as many rights to enter the castle as I do!"

"Okay, but your actions aren't going to be tolerated much longer, Princess," the other guard hissed. He cracked his knuckles, and then he opened the gate.

As we passed through the gate, I stared at the guard who was cracking his knuckles. He was smirking, and his eyes seemed evil under his helmet. I could see a bit of silver hair falling over one of his eyes. That man definitely wasn't from around here.

Zelda and I walked up the hill leading to the main castle gates, Impa following close behind. Every single guard we passed gave us funny looks, but Zelda continued to ignore them. We kept walking, until we came across a mote, the drawbridge hoisted up. She looked at the guard in charge of it, and he pulled a lever, causing the drawbridge to go down. When it hit the brick ground, Zelda pulled me again into the main room of Hyrule Castle.

It was almost like Kalasian Palace.

The entire room was a rectangular shape, and stairs circled around us on the walls. Multiple silver and gold chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and a red carpet stretched from the floor all the way to the throne. Above the throne was a statue of the three goddesses.

"This place is amazing!" I gasped. I had never been in Hyrule Castle before. The farthest I had ever gotten was the courtyard, and even then I wasn't granted permission to go there. I just sneaked in. And of course Zelda obviously remembered my little stunt.

Zelda pulled me to the left, and we began walking up the stairs. We walked for a few seconds, and then she pulled me through a door. The room was big, with tall windows and pink curtains. A wardrobe sat in the corner, and a lonely desk with books all around it was set up across the room against the wall. This must have been Zelda's room. Impa came in with us, and then she closed the door.

Zelda released my hand, and then she went and pulled two chairs over from her desk. She sat down in one, and then gestured for me to sit down as well. I lowered myself onto the chair, and Impa remained standing.

"Impa, could you bring us some tea?" Zelda asked.

She nodded, and without saying a word, she left.

"So Link, where exactly have you been for the past three years?" she asked me. I knew that was going to be her first question.

"I've been in Termina, living in a city called Clock Town. It wasn't very peaceful when I arrived there though."

"Really? What happened?"

Impa arrived with the tea. She handed Zelda a teacup, and then she handed one to me.

It was then that I began to tell Zelda of my journey to stop Majora's Mask.

Zelda sipped from her tea as she listened.

This story was going to be quite long.

Three hours later, I had finished my story, drank two cups of tea, and had Zelda ask every question under the sun. She sometimes asked simple questions, like 'Were you scared'? And sometimes she asked more in-depth questions, like 'Amazing! What did this monster look like?'. But I answered her questions with as much detail as I could possibly give her. I wanted her to know what my journey was like.

Eventually, I began telling her about Byrne, and about how I lived with him, and worked with him as his apprentice.

"What kind of weapons did Byrne make?" Zelda asked, this probably being the millionth question today.

"You know, swords, shields, archery sets, stuff like that. Whenever winter came around though, he'd team up with the Gorons. They specialize in making bombs, which is crucial to getting rid of rock slides, which seem to happen a lot more frequently when it gets cold."

"Neat!"

Then I told her about my journey to Kalasia. I even added the part where I encountered the Reapers.

"Uzuki, huh? Did she seem evil?"

"Not really. She looked a bit scary, but if she wasn't on my side, then she could have killed me right there, right?"

"I guess so."

"Zelda!" Impa yelled. "Ease up on the questions, yeah?"

"No, it's alright Impa," I broke in. "I like having such an interested audience. The questions let me know that she's actually listening."

Impa laughed under her breath. That was rare.

"So anyways, where was I?" I asked myself.

"You were telling me about the land of Kalasia."

"Oh yeah!"

I told her about how I met Samuel Kai and his wife Emily. I told her about Maximilian Osmont, and even though I didn't know much about them, I told her about Matsuda and his older sister, Kurenai. And even to my dismay, I began telling her of my encounter with Shuto, and the 'mission' he wanted me to do, and about how he was also a Reaper.

I explained the yearly Carnival of Time to her, and about how we wore masks and celebrated with music, dancing, and how the Clock Tower opened at midnight. She was really interested, it was just one question after another.

Then I told her about the Reapers.

And how humans died with revenge in their hearts.

About how they were trying to save us.

How they were trying to stop the darkness.

And how they wanted to team up with me to stop Iwata and Jun.

After I told her about that, she became silent. She lowered her eyes, and she sighed.

"So, even after I sent you back in time, so you could enjoy your childhood... you still have to fight against the darkness?"

"I'm sorry, Zelda. It seems Ganondorf wasn't the only one who wanted to bring Hyrule down into the shadows."

Zelda folded her hands together. "I'm sure things will work out okay. You'll stop the darkness, right?"

"Of course I will. I won't let those Reapers get Hyrule even if it meant my life."

"Be careful though. I don't want to lose Hyrule, but I don't want to lose you either!"

I blushed. Did she actually care about me that much? Me and Zelda... I shook the idea from my mind. Even if we did care about each other a lot, we could never actually be _together_.

"Link? Are you alright?"

I realized that I had been staring at her for nearly a minute, blanking out in my thoughts.

"Sorry, I'm fine," I replied.

"By the way, Link, how old are you now?"

"What? That came out of nowhere. I'm thirteen, and I'm turning fourteen in a few months."

"Wow. I turned thirteen a few weeks ago."

"Really? Happy birthday Zelda."

She giggled, and clasped her hands together. "Thank you."

I peered out the window. It was already dark outside. How was that possible? I came here in the morning, and I had been talking to Zelda for only a few hours. It couldn't be dark already!

"Is something wrong, Link?" Impa asked me.

I jumped up from my chair and ran to the window.

"Link, what's wrong?"

"It can't be nighttime yet," I mumbled. I looked out the window. There was no moon. No stars. I could barely even see a sky. "Does something outside... seem a little odd to you?"

Impa and Zelda turned to the window, meeting my gaze. Zelda ran up next to me, her eyes wide, and her mouth agape.

"W-What is that?" she screamed.

As I stared outside, I noticed the most important thing.

It looked like the Dark Realm.

I clenched my fists, and gritted my teeth. The darkness was already taking over Hyrule.

I grabbed Zelda and dragged her to the center of her room. She screamed. I grabbed her wrists.

"Zelda! Calm down!" I yelled. She stopped.

"Link, what's going on?" she cried.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be-" My words were interrupted by the muffled sound of glass breaking. It wasn't in here, but out in the throne room.

Zelda and I were silent, as we stared at her bedroom door. Impa pulled out her sword, getting ready for battle.

I turned to Zelda. "Stay here with Impa. I'm going to go see what happened." I released her wrists and headed for the door.

"But, Link!" Zelda yelled, and grabbed my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. "You can't go out there alone! It's too dangerous!"

"Don't worry, after I take care of the guys out there, I'll come back here and get you, okay?"

Zelda frowned and lowered her eyes to the floor. "O-Okay."

I turned back towards the door, my sword in one hand and my shield in the other, and I kicked it open with my foot. I ran out into the throne room, only to be greeted by utter chaos.

Reapers were everywhere, all of them attacking the castle guards. Swords were clashing, and arrows were flying through the air. Several of the stained glass windows were broken, the glass sprinkled on the floor like snow. Black feathers were floating everywhere.

I jumped off the staircase, my arms and legs flailing, and I just managed to land on my feet. I lunged at the first Reaper I saw...

...who just happened to be Mitsuhiro.

He immediately spun around, grabbed my blade and leg, and flipped me to the floor.

"What the? Damn you! What the hell are you doing here!" he screamed at me.

"Me? _I_ should be the one asking that question! What are _you _doing here?" I held my blade up to his neck, in case he would happen to be the enemy.

"I'm here trying to stop the darkness!" He turned back around and drop-kicked a Reaper who was sneaking up on him. Then he turned to me again. "Would you make yourself useful and use whatever skills you possibly have to help me? These Reapers are nuts! I've never seen them act like this before!" A Reaper jumped up from behind him and kicked him down to the floor, face-first. He spun around on his back to face the Reaper, and swung his leg across the floor and into the Reaper's legs, knocking the monster to the floor with him. He took out a small knife and threw it at the Reaper, and it pierced right through his heart, killing him instantly. There was a golden piece of paper on the knife.

"Nice throw," I complimented.

"Don't try and get on my good side!" Mitsuhiro yelled at me. "We still have all these other ones to take care of! Now be a good fairy and help me!"

I growled angrily and prepared my blade. There were way too many Reapers for me to count, but it didn't make any difference anyways. We were losing _bad._ We only had a few men left, and they fought like little girls! I ran at the Reapers and attacked the smallest ones I could find, but no matter how many times I stabbed them, they just wouldn't die! When I slashed at one, and I was certain they were going to fall in pain, their skin would just reform itself in a matter of seconds.

"Mitsuhiro! How do you get rid of these guys?" I screamed at him. He was only a few feet away from me, breaking Reaper's legs and arms and then wrapping golden paper around their bodies. The bodies turned to dust, and then disappeared. He ran over to me, his back facing mine, and then he handed me a roll of the golden paper.

"Use this!" he instructed. "Reapers can only be killed with a strike of light! Stun them first, and then when you have the chance, wrap it around their bodies! Or just wrap it around your sword and stab them, that works too!" He spread out his Reaper wings and flew off somewhere to fight more Reapers.

I jumped away from the enemies I was currently fighting, and I unraveled the bundle of paper. I wrapped a small piece of it around the handle of my sword, and then it glowed, the light transmitting itself to my blade. I lunged at the Reaper, and stabbed him in the chest. The light flew from my blade, and into the monster's deep wound. The Reaper screamed, and then fell to the floor. I pulled my blade out, and then noticed that the paper on my sword was all gone. I ripped off another small sheet, and wrapped it around the handle again.

"Link!" Mitsuhiro yelled. "Could use some help over here!" I tried to find him in the immense crowd of Reapers, but I couldn't see him anywheres. Then I finally spotted him near the throne, his arms being held back by a Reaper. He was kicking his legs, trying to attack the second Reaper in front of him.

I began running towards him, destroying any Reapers in my path with the golden paper attached to my blade. I finally made it to Mitsuhiro, who was being brutally punched down by several other Reapers. I took my sword, leaped into the air, and stabbed several at once, hoping that I wouldn't accidentally hit Mitsuhiro. When I was done, Mitsuhiro was standing there, blood running down the side of his face and down his right arm.

"Shoot...," he hissed. "I should have brought my Time Distorter and my katana. Guess I couldn't handle this mission with just my hands."

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked him.

"I don't think you're in the position to ask me if I'm alright, Fairy Boy. You're a weaker person than me." _Fairy Boy._ The last person who had called me that was Malon, the girl from Lon Lon Ranch. "Now, let's finish off the rest of these bastards," Mitsuhiro coughed.

Mitsuhiro and I actually made quite a good team.

He would fight with his hands and feet, and I would fight with my sword. If things got too sticky for me, he would come leaping in, breaking each individual bone in the enemy's body. If things got too sticky for him, I would stab the enemy with my sword, golden paper attached. But in the end, there were too many Reapers for us both to take care of. All the castle guards who had participated in the battle were dead.

"Link!"

I looked up to the staircase to see Zelda's worried face, and Impa standing behind her.

"Zelda! Don't come out here! It's too dangerous!" I yelled at her.

She ignored my orders, and jumped down to the floor from the staircase. She fell to her knees as she landed, and she ran up next to me.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I just couldn't wait for you. I was worried."

"Hey, who's this chick?" Mitsuhiro asked impolitely. "Your girlfriend?"

"Mitsuhiro!" I yelled at him, trying not to blush.

"What?" he laughed. "It's obvious that you two dig each other. Better stay away from Uzuki you two, she's read a _lot _of romance novels and romance comic books, and she could read your auras faster than you two could say 'love'."

"Mitsuhiro, quit it!" I turned towards Zelda. Her expression was blank. Then she smiled and turned towards the hordes of Reapers who were now flying towards us.

She held her arms up, and a small ball of light formed in her right hand, where her Triforce was. She grasped her wrist with her left hand, lowered her right arm, and aimed the ball of light at the Reapers. Suddenly, a burst of light exploded from her palm, the small ball of light growing into a huge beam. As it reached the other side of the throne room, all the Reapers that were in the light's range disintegrated into black dust. The beam eventually stopped, and Zelda fell to her knees on the floor.

The battle was over.

But I had a feeling that the war had just begun.


	9. Training

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 9: Training**

Mitsuhiro sat in the corner of the room, bandages wrapped around the wounds on his arm and face, covering over his left eye. He had remained silent ever since the battle, and the only thing he ever did was poke at his arm.

"You two are lucky I came to help!" Zelda snapped at me. "Or else you would have been killed!"

"We could have handled it," I replied in a low voice.

"Link, there were too many for you to fight by yourselves! You should be thanking me!"

"How can I thank you? I don't even know what you did!"

"Does it matter at this point? The most important thing is that you two made it out of there alive."

I sighed in defeat. "You're right. I'm sorry. And thanks for the help."

She turned to Mitsuhiro. "And what about you? If you're defying your own species, and if the head of the Reapers finds out about this, they'll kill you immediately for being a traitor. And you obviously can't stay here."

Mitsuhiro stood up and walked up in front of her, so that he was facing her eyes. Her was so much taller than she was.

"I don't plan on staying in this wretched land of the fairies. I came here on my own time, and the only reason I could fight during that battle was because the Society had planted a huge wall of twilight around this damned castle. Other than that, I had no reason to be here!"

"So why did you come here in the first place?" I asked him suspiciously.

"I was in the Dark Realm, training in the woods," he began. "And then I saw one of the Society's vice-leaders fly ahead of me. They didn't see me, but I managed to spy on them. They opened a portal into Hyrule, and then they left. Pretty soon, a whole load of them came after him, and they went to Hyrule too. I wanted to know what they were doing without going to the world of light, so I watched them through a Twilight Mirror. I saw them form a barrier around the castle, so I finally came to the decision that I would go to your world and stop them. Count yourself lucky, squirt." He pointed at me. "I just decided to waste a bit of my time to save you wretched creatures from death. I hate fairies so much, I can't stand them."

"And yet, you still saved us," Zelda said. "That was a very noble thing to do."

He sneered. "Being noble doesn't make a damn difference in my world. It's a matter of survival. We kill humans, and creatures like you. We get paid with a longer lifespan. Then we continue to kill. It's a matter of balance. If one Reaper doesn't kill enough, he gets erased. If a Reaper kills _too_ much, then he gets erased. We aren't noble. We're trained killers, created to keep the balance of the world stable."

I didn't like how he said those words. _Trained killers_. When he said those words, he sounded like an assassin, ready to kill anyone he was assigned to. I bet he would kill me and Zelda too, if he had the chance. Even his pure black eyes seemed... evil. I had never seen him smile before either.

"Link, you're going to need to be seriously trained," Mitsuhiro mumbled. "You may not know this, but those Reapers we fought were just underlings. Pawns. Jun and Iwata are ten times stronger, and you don't stand a chance against them. Even me and the rest of our organization would be picked off like flies on a windshield. We're all powerless against those two."

"Then I guess we'd better take care of them before they resurrect the darkness," I muttered back.

"We don't have to worry about that yet. They need your blood to resurrect it."

Zelda swallowed, and a bit of sweat formed on her face. "No... it can't be..."

"What do you think it is, Your Highness?" Impa asked her.

"Link's blood... will break the seal... I've heard that line before... it can only be one thing..."

"Wait! Zelda, you can't be thinking of...," I cried.

"I'm afraid so. Those Reapers must be trying to resurrect the King of Evil... Ganondorf."

I gulped, and whimpered. My eyes went wide, and I lowered my head.

"Wait," Mitsuhiro interrupted. "Wasn't Ganondorf the man from the desert who tried to take over this land and gain full control over the Triforce?"

"Indeed," Impa answered. "You know quite a bit about Hyrule, considering you're from the _underworld._"

"I will take that as a joke. One of my companions, Uzuki, is a big fan of Link, and she has studied about Hyrule for years. She knows everything there is to know, even where all of the secret passageways and hidden Fairy Fountains are."

"If you plan on training me," I said, stopping him. "Then does that mean I'll have to hang out in the Dark Realm?"

"If you don't want to be in my world for long, then we can teach you the basics of fighting, but then it's up to you to train on your own precious time."

"That sounds reasonable," I agreed.

Zelda unexpectedly grabbed my arm.

"Link! You can't go there!" she cried, and buried her face in my chest. "I don't want to lose you again!"

I looked down at her with sympathetic eyes, and she looked up at me. Tears were streaming down her face. I stroked her brown-blond hair.

"Zelda," I hushed, trying to calm her down. I turned my gaze to Impa and Mitsuhiro. "Could you two... give us a moment?"

"I'll be waiting right outside the door," Impa warned. She left the room.

Mitsuhiro just winked at me, then left the room as well. Jerk. He closed the door behind him.

Zelda continued to hold on to me. "Please...," she sobbed. "Don't leave me again." She held me even tighter.

"Zelda, you don't have to worry about me," I whispered. "I won't be in the Dark Realm forever. I'll come back to visit you as often as I can."

"Link, if you have to go on another journey, then please, take me along!"

"Zelda, you know I can't do that. You need to rule this kingdom as princess, and it's too dangerous-"

"I can handle the danger! I just want to be by your side again!" I could feel her tears soaking through my tunic.

"Zelda, if I could bring you along, I would, but I can't." I lifted her face and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Promise me? That you'll come visit me whenever you can?"

"I promise," I said. I hugged her again, and then, without thinking it through first, I kissed her forehead. She gave me a surprised look, and then slowly smiled. "If that's not proof enough, I don't know what is," I laughed. She began laughing as well.

"Just be safe," she said softly, and brushed her hand against my cheek. "I'll be waiting here." I nodded, and kissed her on her forehead again. What was I thinking? I knew that I couldn't be with her, but... she was such a beautiful person. I didn't think I could bear to live in this world without her.

"Zelda," I said, and pulled her away from me. I held onto her shoulders, and focused my eyes on hers. "Do you... really care about me that much? To risk your life so you could be by my side?"

She was silent for a few moments, probably thinking over her answer, and then she nodded. "Link, you may not realize it, but you're very important to me. I... don't think I could live in this world without you." She actually felt the same way? I took my hands off her shoulders, and shoved them in my pockets.

"The first place I'm headed to is the Dark Realm for some heavy training. After that, I'll come visit you, okay?"

"Okay."

We stared at each other for a few seconds, until the door swung open, and Impa and Mitsuhiro walked in.

"You ready to leave, Fairy Boy?" Mitsuhiro snickered.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I replied in a low tone.

"Come back someday, you hear, kid?" Impa asked in a sharp voice.

"Of course I'll be back, you don't need to worry about that."

Mitsuhiro swung his arm, opening a shadow portal against the wall. "By the way, Impa..." he began. "We'll try our hardest to relieve the twilight around the castle, until then, stay inside no matter what, okay?"

"I don't think there will be any chance of us going outside for _anything_," she replied. "But please try and fix this problem as soon as possible."

"No problem. Come on, Fairy Boy!" Mitsuhiro jumped through the portal, reached his arm out, and grabbed the neck of my tunic. He pulled me through the dark entryway, and I watched as the room, Impa and Zelda disappeared. Stay safe, Zelda, I thought to myself.

Mitsuhiro stuck several wooden poles into the ground. All five of us, me, Mitsuhiro, Uzuki, Yashiro, and Shuto, were training outside, and the first thing they were going to teach me was shuriken throwing.

"A shuriken comes in many shapes and sizes," Uzuki explained. She held up two different shurikens. "This little one here is what I call a 'star'. It's shaped like a star, except with four points, and it has a little hole in the middle, which is where you put your finger. When these are thrown, they're fast, and you can throw several at once. However, they are one of the weaker ones."

Uzuki held up the second one. "This is an 'iron', and as you can see, it's shaped more like a square than a star. There's no hole for you to put your finger, so you have to grasp it like a disk with your thumb and other fingers. This one's stronger, but it's a little harder to master than the star."

Yashiro handed a brown schoolbag to Uzuki. Uzuki unzipped it, and pulled out a metal ring with a blade attached to it. "This one here is called a 'windmill', and is the strongest, but one of the hardest to master out of the bunch. They are also more expensive and harder to find. When you look at it from a distance, it appears to only have one blade, but flip it out like this..." She swung it upwards, and three more blades ripped open from the sides of the ring. "And there you have it! A 'windmill' shuriken! One special thing about this weapon is that if used properly, then its direction can be controlled."

"I'm probably going to start off with the star shuriken, right?" I asked.

"Yep." She tossed me a black box. "Strap that on your belt. You can carry weapon tools in there. I've already taken the liberty of putting stars and kunais in there."

"Thanks," I muttered, and attached the box to my belt. It felt a bit heavy, but once I tied it down tight, it felt light and empty. I loosened the button holding down the flap and pulled out a star shuriken. I closed the bag back up again.

"Alright, Link, your goal is to strike this wooden pole with that shuriken," Uzuki instructed. "Notice that there are different colors on the pole." The top half was painted green, the bottom half was blue, and right in the middle was a small strip of red. "If you strike someone in the legs, they probably have a chance of getting back up again. Hitting them in the face, not so much. But hit them where their heart is, or in their middle, they are sure to die quicker."

I slipped my finger through the hole in the middle of the star, and I threw it with all my might. It landed about five centimeters away from me.

Yashiro groaned. "This one's going to take some time, isn't he, Uzuki?" she asked her friend.

"He just needs practice!"

And so we practiced.

And before I knew it, three hours had passed, and I still hadn't hit the target.

"You can do it this time Link! I can feel it!" Uzuki cheered. I was getting tired.

I took out my last shuriken, and positioned it on my finger. I closed one eye, and aimed for the red section of the target. I took a deep breath, and flung the shuriken out into the air. It zoomed past all the others, and landed right on the top half of the pole, in the green.

Uzuki clapped her hands together. "Great job Link! You did it!"

I fell down in the grass. I did it.

But I still had so much more work to do.

My next lesson was with Yashiro. She was going to teach me the way of hand-to-hand combat.

"Alright, squirt, I want to tell you that I fight with a different style than my friends," Yashiro explained. "I fight with my hands and feet, but I fight in a way so that I break every bone in my enemy's body."

This wasn't going to be fun.

"So the first thing you have to do is gain power in your fists." She held out one of her hands. "Take a swing."

I readied my fist and punched her hand as hard as I could. She laughed.

"Nice punch, for a beginner, but your fighting stance is all wrong." She grabbed my hands and forced them into fists, and then she moved one of my legs back, keeping the other forward. "Keep your hands in front of your face like this. It helps you guard." She demonstrated the stance to me. I did as I was told.

"Now, I want you to punch at my hands again, okay? And keep your arm straight when you punch. Don't flail it like you don't have control."

I took a swing, but kept my arm straight, and hit Yashiro's hand harder this time.

"Great job, now you're getting it! Now give me multiple punches with both your hands!" I punched at her continuously, rotating between my left and right hand. When I was done, Yashiro's hands were a bit red, and my fists were sore.

"You're doing great Link!" she praised. "Hey Uzuki! Get over here!" Uzuki was sitting over at the stairs to the house with Shuto and Mitsuhiro. When she was called, she perked her head up and began running towards us.

"Yeah Yashiro-chan?" she asked.

"I want to show a demonstration to Link. Stand right here," Yashiro instructed. She grabbed Uzuki by the shoulders and moved her to the left. She faced Uzuki so that her back was facing the brick wall that surrounded the house. Yashiro turned back to Link.

"Wait a second...," Uzuki mumbled suspiciously. "I don't like this... Yashiro, what are you doing?"

"Pay attention Link. If you train a lot, maybe someday you'll be able to do this!" Yashiro pulled her hand back into a fist and slammed it into Uzuki's body. In a blur, Uzuki's body was pushed at least thirty feet, dirt flying everywhere, all the way into the wall. Uzuki's head was facing down, and her body was dug deep into the brick. After a few seconds, the bricks began to crumble, and half the section of that wall came down.

"Yashiro! You said you wouldn't do that!" Uzuki growled from under the bricks. She stood up, unharmed from the explosion, and she began to shuffle towards her friend. She coughed, and blood started to drip from her mouth. "That's the third time this week!"

"Sorry Uzuki, but I had to show a demonstration this time. You understand?"

"Fine, I'll let this one slide, but the next time you pull a stunt like that I'll draw up all your greatest fears and have them haunt you in your sleep!"

"I'm _so_ scared. You wanna battle it out right here?"

"You're on!"

I ran away to Shuto before I got caught up in the trouble. Shuto laughed as he watched Yashiro and Uzuki punch at each other.

"Those two really don't like each other, huh?" I asked him.

"What? Are you kidding? They're best friends!" he laughed.

I gave him a shocked look. "_Best friends?_ But they're attacking each other out there! Did you not see Yashiro punch Uzuki right into the wall?"

"Uzuki and Yashiro have a... strange way of showing their friendship. Stay here long enough, and you'll see."

I sat down next to Shuto, and watched the two 'friends' duke it out on the battlefield. They only used their hands and feet when they fought, and surprisingly, Uzuki did okay fighting against Yashiro. When Yashiro punched at her, she would either block, which usually didn't send her flying, or she would dodge and counterattack. I noticed during the fight that Uzuki fought differently than Yashiro did. She kept her hands facing out with her palms, instead of her fists, and she fought more gracefully, and when she attacked, she would gently strike Yashiro's neck, chest, or back. Yashiro however, just threw hard punches and kicks, and her attacks seemed stronger. If breaking every bone in the enemy's body was Yashiro's style... what was Uzuki's?

"Hey Shuto, how does Uzuki fight?" I asked him.

"Uzuki kind of fights the opposite of Yashiro. She uses her agility to dodge attacks, and then she focuses her energy to her palms. When she dodges an attack, she'll counterattack by gently striking a certain area of the body, like the neck. The reason for this is because the neck has nerve endings in it. Cut these off with a good strike, and that person you hit will lose consciousness. Obviously, it's a little harder for Yashiro to get knocked out faster because she's trained her body, but she'll probably fall in a little while."

"I've never heard of a fighting style like that."

"There are a lot of ways for a Reaper to fight. We only use our weapons if we're truly threatened."

"So if Uzuki fights with a scythe, and Mitsuhiro fights with his Time Distorter and a katana, what do you and Yashiro fight with?"

"I fight with my flute." He pulled out his silver flute from behind him. It was about half his size. Multiple keys stretched down the side of the metal.

"How can you fight with a flute?" I asked in wonder.

"This flute's sound is excruciatingly loud and high-pitched. You can practically _see_ the sound waves coming out of this thing. It's meant to destroy the enemy's eardrums and enter the brain, which ultimately paralyzes or kills them."

"But you were playing it yesterday, and it didn't seem to affect me."

"I've learned to control the volume and pitch." He put the flute up to his lips and began to play a sad tune, but then he stopped and pulled it away. "Do you want to play with me? On your ocarina?"

"Sure. This fight is getting old." I laughed, pulled out my ocarina and put it to my lips.

"How about we play the Song of Storms? A little rain might stop Uzuki and Yashiro from fighting," Shuto recommended.

"How do you know that song?"

"Like I said before, Uzuki is your biggest fan. She knows all the songs you played. Plus, I once listened to that creepy old Guru-Guru guy play his music."

"The Song of Storms it is then." I found the fingerings to the song, and Shuto and I began to play together, the melody of our instruments playing with the storm clouds that began to grow. We continued to play, even as the rain began to fall and land on our faces. Our music fit so well together. I felt happy.

We even continued to play in the rain as Uzuki and Yashiro came trudging through the mud, their skin bruised, and smiles stretched across their faces. They began bursting into laughter. Were they really that good of friends? They didn't even care that they were soaking wet and covered in blood and cuts. They just had their arms on each other's shoulders, carrying one another into the house. I guess my training for today was over.

Shuto pulled his flute away, and I did the same with my ocarina. He stood up from the steps, and gestured for me to go inside.

I guess I was staying the night again too.


	10. Soul Control

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 10: Soul Control**

_I lay in the field of blossoms, the wind gently brushing against my face. The entire field was empty, only me and the fairies that flew above me. I already have a hunch that I'm dreaming. But I don't want to wake myself up. If I am truly dreaming, then I don't want to wake myself up from this paradise. This place is quiet. Peaceful. I sit up in the grass, and I look over the horizon to see fairies zooming over the hill._

_But as I squint my eyes to make them a bit clearer, I see that they aren't fairies._

_They're people._

_I continue to watch them, until they are right next to me. They're both men. One looks like the adult me, but with black hair, black clothes, even his eyes were all black, his pupils a faint red. _

_The second man also looks like the adult me, but his hair is silver, and his face has red and blue tribal colors painted on his jaw and forehead. His clothes are more like mine: a tunic, except white, and a blue breastplate, along with black leggings._

_They both stand next to me, staring in the direction my back is facing. Then they both bend down so that they are sitting on their toes. _

_"You will become stronger, that I promise you," the silver haired one says. His voice sounds godly. _

_"But we need you to do one simple thing for us," the other one says. His voice sounds more cruel. "We need you to wake up... wake up..."_

"Wake up!"

My eyes burst open, and I sat up in my bed, in the same room I had slept in before. Uzuki was standing next to my bed, kunais, shurikens, and a scythe attached to her belt.

"Uzuki! What is it?" I asked her, dumbfounded.

"You must have been having some dream!" she laughed. "I yelled at you three times to wake up! It's time for morning training!"

"What the... morning training? What time is it?" I looked at the clock on the wall, which was strangely similar to the ones in Clock Town. It read four a.m. I gave Uzuki a look of disgust.

"What? We always wake up at this time."

Yashiro came walking into the room, a bag of chips in her hand. She put her elbow on Uzuki's shoulder.

"What's up Link?" she asked. "Ready for morning training?"

I flopped back onto my back in defeat.

"Come on sleepyhead!" Yashiro laughed. "Get up! You're almost as lazy as Uzuki!"

"Very funny," Uzuki mumbled. Yashiro shrugged and then lifted me up with her hands. She dragged me out by the collar of my tunic, all the way out into the living room, and then outside. When we were outside, she threw me onto the cold dewy grass.

"Alright, I'll bite, what am I doing today?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to train with us, so quit your complaining," Yashiro snapped. "You're training with Mitsuhiro and Mr. Mew today."

"Okay, Mitsuhiro I understand, but... Mr. Mew? Who the hell is that?"

"You shouldn't bark in that tone to one of our members," Mitsuhiro snickered. He walked out from the backwoods, a black cat sitting on his shoulder. He pointed to the cat. "This is Mr. Mew. Or Miu for short. She's Shuto's cat."

"So, if it's a female, why is it's name _Mr._Mew?" I asked.

His face flushed. "Uh, long story. That doesn't matter anyways. I'm going to be your teacher today, so be prepared for a lot of blood and pain."

I swallowed. Uzuki winked at me.

"Don't worry," she whispered to me. "He's just joking. He's actually a really good teacher. I learned most of my skills from him."

"If you say so," I whispered back. Uzuki left with Yashiro and Shuto to the back end of the house, multiple kunais hanging from her hands.

"Okay Link, I'm in charge of teaching you how to use your energy properly," he began. "In a Reaper's body, we have special veins that carry a certain energy, which helps us use our spells and charms. We call this energy 'Soul'. But because you're a fairy, you probably refer to it as 'magic power'. Our energy lines are different from a fairy's however. Ours is more controlled, so we pretty much already know how to harness it ourselves. We have special 'doors' in these veins, and when opened, we can add more strength to our attacks."

"Uh, I don't really understand, but okay..."

He slammed his foot against the ground. "I need to make you understand then! This isn't just something you can learn along the way! I'll give you an example. Let's say that Yashiro is fighting a powerful enemy, and she's been fighting with a level one strength, which is powered by a tiny bit of Soul. If she wants to add more power to her own strength, she has to open one of the doors using her mind, and when that certain door opens, she can obtain a level two power, which obviously uses more Soul. There are two types of Soul in a Reaper and a fairy's body: Mental, and Physical. We gain Mental Soul as we grow up, but in order to gain Physical Soul, we must first become stronger with our bodies. The maximum level a person can achieve is up to five levels, the fifth level using a lot of Soul, almost every bit of it. We can only use this if we have been heavily trained, or in an emergency situation."

"So in my case, I use magic power? I already know how to use that," I objected.

"You know how to use spells, but do you have full control yet? There's a difference between _knowing_ and _controlling_. We're going to work on controlling. Observe." He took the cat off his shoulder and set her down on the ground. He turned towards one of the big trees that were surrounding the area, and he set his right foot against the bark. Then he actually managed to set his left foot against the bark as well, and he began to walk up the tree. "If you can control your magic, you can send it to different parts of your body, like your feet. I want you to try this now. Start by focusing your magic to your feet."

I stood still before the tree, and then I attempted to focus my energy to my feet. My feet started to feel as if they were burning, so I figured I had focused my magic enough. I placed my right foot against the tree bark, and then my left. I began to walk, and I could feel myself climbing up the tree...

...and falling flat on my back. I landed with a loud _thud_, and the ground wasn't all that soft either. Mitsuhiro laughed from the top of the tree.

"Is that all you've got? Pathetic," he insulted. "I would expect no less from a _fairy boy_." He added a cruel emphasis to the words _fairy boy_. It was almost as if he was mocking me. He leaned himself forward, looking as if he was going to fall from the tree. I flinched, waiting for him to fall, but then he laughed again, and I growled at him. He was hanging upside-down from a tree branch. "Now _this _is _true strength_! You can always give up and try later though!"

I didn't want to give up.

I wasn't going to give up.

I pulled myself up from the cold grass, still in a bit of pain from the hard fall. I tried extremely hard to focus this time, I ended up clenching my fists, trying to get the energy to stay in my feet. When I was ready again, I ran up the tree, hoping to make it farther this time. I made it about two centimeters higher, and then fell again. But I jumped back to my feet, and kept attempting to climb the tree. Mitsuhiro remained hanging from the branch, laughing every time I fell.

"Just give up!" he snickered. "You'll never be able to do it!"

"Just watch me!" I screamed at him. I jumped onto the tree this time, and actually made it up quite high, but every time, I would end up losing control, and then I would fall again. Mitsuhiro eventually jumped from the tree and went inside, Mr. Mew following close behind him. But I remained outdoors, determined to climb the tree before nightfall. I wanted to prove myself to Mitsuhiro, to show him that I had just as much control over my magic than any other Reaper. I continued to practice, even as Yashiro, Uzuki, and Shuto came from their training. It was afternoon by then.

"How's he doing?" I heard Uzuki ask Mitsuhiro, who had come out to watch how I was doing.

"Okay, I guess, but he's taking too long. It shouldn't take a person this long to learn how to control their power."

"Give him some time. You weren't the best at tree climbing either when you first started."

"Whatever. We just have to make sure he doesn't tire himself out too much."

After a while, Yashiro brought me out lunch. It was a tray with an apple, sandwich, and a glass of juice on it. I decided to rest, and eat up the food. I hadn't eaten in a while, so I was starving.

"You should rest for a while," Yashiro said as she watched me eat. "You look terrible."

She was right about that. My clothes were all covered in a light layer of dirt from the ground, and I was bruised from all the falls I had taken. My hair was dirty and sticking up everywhere, and I had a few cuts on my face from small tree branches that had caught my skin.

"I can't, not yet," I muttered back. "I'm not going to stop until I can make it all the way up the tree!"

"But Link, if you go any longer, you'll-"

"I already said it, and I'm sticking with it. I'm not stopping yet." I took one more bite from my apple and put the core on the tray. "I'll come inside once I can make it up the tree."

"Suit yourself..." She took the tray and walked back into the house.

I had a feeling that I was going to make it this time. For the millionth time today, I focused all the magic I could to my feet, making sure that I would concentrate and keep it focused. Then, I took a step onto the tree, and began to walk up. I made it farther and higher, until I was higher than all my previous records. I began to smile, but then, my concentration broke because of my pride, and I fell, landing really hard on the ground. I could have sworn I heard my back make a snapping noise. The pain from the fall began ringing through my ears, and I could barely get up without pain shooting through my body. I carefully pulled myself up, and wearily stood to my feet. I could barely even stand up without the pain. It felt like knives were shooting through my back. I started to feel depressed. I started to think that Mitsuhiro was right, that I would never make it up the tree.

I was going to prove him wrong!

**A Short Interlude**

Uzuki drank from her coffee, still able to hear the screams from outside. They were Link's screams, as he attempted to climb up the tree. Mitsuhiro was pushing him too hard...

Yashiro pulled up a chair next to Uzuki and sat down. She opened one of her books and began to skim the pages, trying to find where she last left off. Eventually, she found her page, and she began to read quietly. Shuto was playing the flute in his room, and Mitsuhiro was watching Link through the window. Kon was resting with on the couch.

"He's going to use up all his magic if he doesn't stop soon," Yashiro mumbled, eying Mitsuhiro as she spoke. "You shouldn't be working him so hard."

"That fairy boy has a lot of potential," he said back, keeping his voice in a muttered tone. "He just needs to realize that he's not the same as the other fairies."

"When did you figure that out?" Uzuki asked. "I could tell he was different by his aura, but I didn't think you could tell. How did you notice?"

"His eyes... they're more courageous and adventurous than any eyes I have ever seen. They're wild, but still noble. When I look at that kid, I see power, and strength."

"I wonder what his dreams are about," Yashiro joined in. "The first night he was here, he had a nightmare. I'm guessing that last night wasn't as bad, but when he has nightmares, the first thing he does is open his eyes and scream."

"Poor kid," Uzuki muttered through her coffee. "Come on Mitsuhiro. Let's go get him. He's probably fainted of exhaustion by now."

"He won't come inside," Yashiro argued. "He told me he's not going to come inside until he's mastered the tree climbing. You've pushed him too hard, Mitsuhiro." He turned to Yashiro and made a face.

The next thing they heard was a loud scream from outside.

It was Link.

Uzuki jumped from her chair, spilling her coffee, and Yashiro followed her. Mitsuhiro turned back to the window to check on him. He wasn't there. They all ran outside, trying to find him. They circled around the tree, looked in the bushes and the forest, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Up here!"

Mitsuhiro looked up the tree to see an exhausted Link laying on a tree branch, his arms and legs just hanging. Light layers of dirt were covering his face and clothes, and his hat had a rip through it. Link gave Mitsuhiro an I-told-you-so smirk, and then stood up on the branch.

"I told you I could do it!" he laughed. He folded his arms and mocked Mitsuhiro with silly faces, but then his foot slipped, and he began to fall.

"Link!" Uzuki yelled. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to hit the hard ground.

"No worries!" he laughed again. Uzuki opened her eyes to see Link hanging upside-down from the branch, like Mitsuhiro had shown him that morning. But then his foot slipped again, and this time, really did fall. He screamed, but then his body jerked upwards, his foot caught by something. Mitsuhiro hung from a branch higher than him, holding his foot.

"Ugh, you idiot," he mumbled. He smiled at Link, and then helped him to the ground.

"You did it!" Shuto cheered.

"Hey Mitsuhiro, want to have a race up the biggest tree in the forest?" Link challenged him.

Mitsuhiro smirked and hit Link's back with his palm. "Sure thing, fairy boy."

"You're on!" Link began heading to the house. "Right after a nap!"

**Chapter 10 (continued)**

I wearily opened my eyes, every single image I saw blurry and hard to make out. I tried to move my hand, but when I lifted it and looked at it, it almost looked as if it was detached from my body. My body felt heavy, and my head felt like a hammer was pounding against it. I could hear voices, but they were all like echoes, too weird for me to make out. I attempted to sit up, but I was stopped by a hand pushing back down. I ended up closing my eyes again.

"Sleep, Link. You've done enough work for today," the voice said. Who was that talking? The voice was kind, and gentle, but I couldn't make out who's it was. It almost reminded me of Byrne, and about how he always used to let me take long sleeps after a tough job of building. But it couldn't be him... he was still in Termina. When I thought about that, I remembered that I never told him where I was going. He was probably worried sick about me by now. Who _was_ that voice? I could hear a flute playing in the background, along with a few other instruments I couldn't identify. One sounded similar to my ocarina. The other sounded like an electric guitar. The last one sounded like a piano, or an organ, almost like the one the masked salesman played.

"Nice playing, Yashiro-chan," I heard a voice say.

"Playing the piano isn't that hard, Uzuki-chan," the other one said. "Your ocarina adds true depth to the music."

"But you can't play _this_ song without the piano."

They began to play a song that I found vaguely familiar. It was haunting, and yet beautiful at the same time. I could tell that it was a song that I learned in Termina. I tried to listen in, but it sounded fuzzy. After listening for a few minutes, I could tell what song it was.

It was the Song of Healing. It was the only song I knew that sounded like that. But why where they playing it? I could hear the flute and the ocarina's music flowing together, mixing in with the piano and the guitar. It sounded so beautiful. I opened my eyes a little bit, and the image became clearer. I could see the living room ceiling, and four people spread out among the couches. But, since when was there a piano in the living room? I must have never noticed it. When I tilted my head slightly to the left, I could see Uzuki and Yashiro sitting next to each other, Yashiro playing a black piano, and Uzuki playing on a small black ocarina. A white ribbon was attached to the mouthpiece, and it went around her neck, almost like a necklace. The music coming from the ocarina sounded different from mine. It's sound was lower, more haunting.

I slowly tilted my head to the right. I could see Mitsuhiro playing on a black guitar, its strings a shimmering silver. Shuto was sitting on the armchair next to him, playing his flute, and quickly moving his fingers to each key. He was tapping his foot to the music.

I tried to sit up again, but Mitsuhiro immediately jumped up from his chair and gently pushed me back down with his hand.

"Go back to sleep. Don't get up," he ordered. His voice sounded... soothing. The tone in his voice wasn't cruel this time, but actually nicer. I laid my head back down and began to close my eyes.

Before I closed them though, I was sure I saw Mitsuhiro smile at me.

The next thing I felt was my body being lightly shaken, and I could hear voices yelling loudly.

"Hey! Sleeping Beauty! Get up already!"

I opened my eyes, and I saw Mitsuhiro standing next to the bed I was laying on. He looked angry. He began to poke my forehead.

"Uzuki, I think he might be dead, can we throw him out for the crows?" he laughed.

"I'm not dead!" I yelled at him. It almost hurt to talk.

"Shuto, he's awake. Hand me that frying pan..."

"Quit joking around Mitsuhiro!" Uzuki snapped.

He frowned. "You guys can't take a simple joke anymore!" Since when did Mitsuhiro _like_ to joke around? He was always so serious.

I sat up in my bed, and then I realized I was in my room. Uzuki came by and dropped the Time Gate on my lap.

"Better start writing," she urged.

"Why did you make me this thing anyways?" I asked curiously.

"I think you should figure out its other capabilities on your own. It's not just diary." She tossed the ink and pen towards me, then left the room. Mitsuhiro followed her, leaving me all alone to write in my Time Gate.

I groaned, opened the book and flipped past all my other entries. I noticed that the lettering in each entry had changed to a creepy font. The letters looked creepy, sharp, and almost scribbled. I didn't write like that. I could still make out the words though. I just shrugged, thinking it was an effect from the Time Gate, and flipped to a new page. I took my pen and dipped the nib into the ink. I began to write about everything that had happened to me since I first arrived in the Dark Realm. I wrote about how I met Zelda again, and about the battle against the Reapers in the castle. I wrote about how I began my training, from the shuriken throwing to the tree climbing, and I wrote about the Reapers I was currently working with. I added all the details about Uzuki, Yashiro, Shuto, and Mitsuhiro, from their fighting styles, to their way of talking to each other. I wrote about Yashiro's addiction to quesadilla chips, and Uzuki's talent for drawing.

When I was finished, I closed the book, and put away the ink and pen. But I was curious as to how the font on my previous entries had changed. I opened my Time Gate again, and looked at the lettering from my new entry. It was still the same, but as I watched it, I saw it slowly change from my neat way of writing, to the creepy scribbled style. The letters morphed around, changing until they looked the same as my previous entries. I quickly shut my diary and jumped out of bed. The only problem was, I was still dizzy, so the moment I took a step, I fell. It really hurt this time too. I gently stood up, trying not to fall again, and I slowly made my way out to the living room. I carried my Time Gate tightly in my hand, and I approached Uzuki.

"What is this thing?" I demanded.

"You figured it out already?" she asked.

"Just tell me! It looks different than it did when I first wrote in it!"

"That's because when you write in the Time Gate... you can travel back in time."


	11. Secrets Revealed and Monsters Revived

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 11: Secrets Revealed and Monsters Revived**

I silently stood before Uzuki, my thoughts jumbled from her words. Time travel? I knew it was possible, but how did she manage to actually _make_ something like that?

"I can understand that you are shocked by this," Uzuki said. "But I created it for your use, so you could travel back in time whenever you pleased."

"But, how can someone actually create something like this? And how does it work?" I looked at my Time Gate. Could something as simple as a diary possibly used to travel through time itself?

"Allow me to explain," Uzuki began. "When you write in your Time Gate, you create a date in time, which you can use to travel through time. After writing in your entry, you will notice that the fonts change after a few minutes. This is to signify that the date is now valid to use as a gate through time. After writing in said date, you can then use that entry as a gate, and enter the time stream at which it was written. For example, if you write an entry about how you trained here in the Dark Realm, and then opened that entry again ten years later, you can travel back to that point in time when you were training. You're the first person we've met who can _fully _travel through time."

"Fully? What do you mean by fully? Is there someone else who can only travel through time by a little bit?" I asked curiously.

Uzuki's expression changed to a sorrowful look, and she became quiet. "I can't tell you that, I'm afraid."

"Enough with the secrets!" I yelled, and pounded my fists against the kitchen table. Her coffee cup rattled from the shaking table. "How do you honestly expect me to trust you if you won't tell me anything?"

She remained silent, and then looked at Mitsuhiro, who was sleeping on the couch in the living room.

"It's... Mitsuhiro...," she said quietly. "When he was born, he was given a power that was similar to yours, but as a child, he eventually realized that he couldn't _give _time to people like you. He could only take it away. The weapon he uses can suck the life out of a human, taking years away from their current lifespan. I met him through school when we were still alive. He was always so excited, ready to take on anything, but deep down, he was a really sad person. He was also jealous of you. He wanted to give anything to have the same power a you."

"So how did Mitsuhiro die?" I asked.

"He was in a... car accident."

"Car accident?"

"The first creatures to live in this world were the Oocca's. They now currently occupy a city floating in the sky. But they had flying technology, machines that could fly people over roads and fields. There were small fans at the bottom that lifted this machines. Even I don't know all the details to his death, but he told me that some technicians had rebuilt a few of these machinese and were testing these hovering cars in Castle Town, and one of the cars malfunctioned. He ended up getting hit by the car on his way home from school."

"And how old was he when he died?"

"Seventeen. You were ten at the time, and you were on your journey for the Spiritual Stones."

"How did the others die?" I asked.

"Shuto died of a serious illness, Yashiro was shot by a robber, and I..."

"Yes?"

"I don't remember how I died. I lost my memory of my death. All I remember is what I used to look like and the school I used to go to. And a bit of my childhood."

"Why did you make me the Time Gate?" I asked her, changing the subject. "I can use my Ocarina of Time to travel."

"Yes, that is true, but you can't travel to specific dates with it. The only other way to do that is to get the Master Sword and use the Pedestal of Time. And there's only a certain number of those things scattered throughout Hyrule. But it doesn't matter right now. You wanted to come here to train, and sthat's what you're going to do. Link, do you know how long you were asleep?"

"Uh, a few hours?" I guessed.

"Actually, you've been asleep for three days. You could have used that time to learn other skills, but instead you pushed yourself too hard, and as a result, you lost seventy-two hours worth of training."

"You guys really take your time seriously, huh?" I was somewhat shocked that I had been sleeping for three days straight.

"Time is the most important thing to us right now. We can't waste it, or ignore it."

"You said that you haven't thought of a name for your organization yet, right?"

"Yes."

"How about you name it... the Time Keepers?"

She thought it over for a minute, and then she took a sip from her coffee. "That's a good name. But we would have to ask Mitsuhiro first. He's almost like our leader."

"Can I get the frying pan?" I asked her, using the same joke Mitsuhiro had used on me this morning.

"Good one, you make me laugh," she said sarcastically. "Seriously, don't do it. He's trained his mind to know if someone is sneaking up on him."

"Darn," I groaned. "By the way, I've filled out the Time Gate entry."

"Good, make sure to keep it as updated as possible. It's time for training."

"What are we doing today?"

"Agility. You're working with me again today."

"How fun."

Uzuki and Shuto stood next to each other, both of them weaponless and wearing loose clothing. We were in the backyard, where practice dummies and archery targets were set up. Uzuki and Shuto's hands and feet were wrapped up in white bandages.

"Shuto and I figured the best way to teach you agility is to show you a demonstration," Uzuki said. "Shuto here is a fast fighter with his hands."

"I'll say," I cut in. I remembered when I challenged him in the Termina forest, and it had only taken him a second to tie me down. Shuto smiled at my remark. He remembered too.

"Anyways, he's going to attack me, and I'm going to attempt to dodge his attacks and counterattack. Ready Shuto?"

He nodded."Go!" he yelled, and began swinging his fists towards Uzuki. He made a swing at her head, and she bent down, seeing his fist above her. She took her leg and swung it at his feet, knocking him to the ground. He fell onto his back, and Uzuki stood up.

"It's always important that you're fast during a battle, otherwise you can get attacked very easily." She walked to an odd looking machine with several holes in the metal. She sat on top of it, but kept her legs on the side. "This baby here can fire arrows. I want you to dodge each and every one of them."

"Or else what, dare I ask?" I asked worriedly.

"Or else you're going to be in a lot of pain for the next several hours. Ready?"

"Um, Uzuki, I don't think this is very-"

"Go!" she laughed, and hit the button on the top of the machine. An arrow flew out, and I stepped to my right, avoiding it. It wasn't that bad. Then, out of nowhere, three arrows zoomed like lightning from the box. I screamed, and attempted to dodge each one. Thank Goddess I didn't get hit!

"Hm, that's strange," Uzuki muttered, and examined the machine.

"What's strange?" I screamed. "That I'm not dead by now?"

"No, I won't let you get hit. It's just, the arrows should be coming out faster than this..." Uzuki banged the top of the box with her fist, and it began making loud creaking noises. "Ah! There we go!" Suddenly, multiple arrows zoomed out, each one spread out across the field. I ducked, jumped and swerved around, trying not to get hit by the iron arrowheads. This training was way more intense than what I would have expected from Uzuki, but it couldn't be helped. I wanted to become stronger. I continued to dodge, and although it didn't look as cool as when Uzuki did it, I managed to avoid all the arrows without getting hit. I nearly got hit once though, near my arm. The arrowhead had just slipped through the sleeve on my tunic, but it didn't hit my arm. Way too close.

"Good job Link!" Uzuki and Shuto cheered.

"You might be able to move up from Easy to Normal someday!" Shuto encouraged. This was the Easy difficulty? I didn't want to know what the Hard difficulty was like!

I kept dodging, until the machine ran out of arrows. Uzuki jumped off the machine and clapped her hands.

"Great job!" she congratulated. "If you want to know how we do the Normal and Hard difficulty, the key is to either dodge, knock the arrows away, or catch them.

"How the hell are you supposed to catch them?" I yelled.

"It's hard, and takes a lot of training. You'll be able to do it someday though, no doubt about it!" She gave me a thumbs-up.

"These are the only skills you'll have to learn for now," Shuto yawned. "You can train here with us, or you can train on your own time in Hyrule."

"I think I better return to my world first," I said. "I have to apologize to Byrne for leaving without saying goodbye."

"That sounds like a good idea," Uzuki said happily. "When do you plan on leaving?"

"This afternoon, I guess, after I get all my things together."

I pulled my bag from under my bed, and threw my Time Gate inside. My tunic had been mended by Shuto, and I had a three shuriken holsters from Uzuki and Yashiro, all of them loaded with stars, irons, kunais, even windmills. My nib pen and ink were also inside, along with food, some arrows, bombs, a black cloak, a dark red scarf, and bandages (the bandages was because Uzuki worried about me too much). I swung my heavy bag over my shoulder, and left the room. I closed the door, and I went to the living room. All the Reapers were sitting on the chairs, each of them waiting for me.

"So who's dropping me off?" I asked.

"Mitsuhiro," Yashiro answered. "He's going to drop you off in Termina."

"There's something I wanted to ask you guys," I said. "When I'm dropped off in my world, how will I come back here again?"

Yashiro snickered. "Wow, a person who actually _wants _to come back here. It's simple. Just find one of the many Mirrors of Twilight that are scattered around your world. You'll end up in different spots depending on which mirror you go through, but if you want to come here, just play this song." She sat down on the piano seat in the corner of the room and began playing a strange tune on the piano keys. It was somewhat sad, but also horrific. When she was finished, she looked at me. "I wrote this song myself. I call it "The Ballad of Shadows". Play it when you come here through a mirror, and you'll be warped to our house."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to remember it."

"You ready to leave, Link?" Mitsuhiro asked me. He headed for the door.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Oh yeah, why did you give me one of the black robes?"

"All Time Keepers wear them!" Shuto laughed.

"You mean, I'm a... Time Keeper?"

"Of course," Yashiro replied. "You _were_ the one who came up with the name."

I smiled and turned to Mitsuhiro. His face was blank as he opened the door.

"I'll come back whenever I get the chance!" I said to them all, and followed Mitsuhiro out the door. We walked down the steps, and he guided me across the twilight fields.

It was the first time I actually noticed how beautiful the Dark Realm truly was. The blue, black and red blossom flowers were amazing, each of them dancing with the wind. The birds that flew above our heads were graceful, their wings shimmering like black silver. I could see tall buildings stretching over the horizon, their glass windows reflecting the little sunlight from the sky.

"Don't lose yourself," Mitsuhiro mumbled. "It looks beautiful, but every rose has its thorns."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, amazed at how he knew what I was thinking.

"What I mean is that even beautiful things can be dangerous. This world is not what it seems."

I sighed. I began to wish that the Reaper Society could just leave things the way they were. But if that was the case, I might never have met Yashiro, Uzuki, Shuto, or Mitsuhiro. I wouldn't have become a Time Keeper. I wouldn't have learned how to become stronger. I was thankful for meeting the Reapers.

We walked for a long time, passing old ruins, forests and lakes. The ruins almost looked like something I would find in Hyrule, like castle walls, or towers. The lakes were all golden, each one having twilight float up from them. The forests looked deep and haunting.

We eventually reached a huge tower, one that didn't happen to be in ruin. It rose up to the sky, staircases circling all around its walls. And as usual, the entire building was black. Mitsuhiro pushed open the huge stone doors, the hinges slowly creaking as he moved them. Dust flew from the bottom of the stone, showing how long it was since someone had entered this place. We walked inside, only to be greeted by intense darkness and spiderwebs. Mitsuhiro wiped his hand against the wall, and then he stopped. He punched the wall hard, and the brick came crumbling down.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him frantically. I think there was a _reason_ why every building in this world was in ruin.

"Giving us some light to see," Mitsuhiro mumbled. Light began to pour in from outside, and the room faintly lit up. I could see unlit torches everywhere, and shattered windows. "Know any fire spells kid?"

"No, but I do know how to use a fire arrow." I pulled out my bow and aimed a fire arrow at one of the torches. The flames burned brightly, and as I released the arrow, it zoomed away and attached its flames to the torch. The torch head burst into flames, light up the individual corner of the room.

"That's cool, but I don't think you have enough arrows to light each individual torch," Mitsuhiro grumbled.

"Well, I think I still know how to use Din's Fire," I said.

"Use it then."

I focused my magic to my hands, and pounded the ground with my left palm. "Din's Fire!" I yelled, and a ring of fire formed around me and Mitsuhiro's bodies. The ring formed a dome of flames above us, which eventually spread throughout the room. All at once, the torches became lit.

"Pretty neat, for a fairy," Mitsuhiro snickered. He walked forward to another large door. He could at least say thank you. I followed him, and helped him push open the heavy doors. The next room was huge, and rather empty. All that was in the room was more torches, already lit for some reason, a torn carpet on the floor, and a large round pedestal with a round black coin on it. The coin looked big, and it was made from stone.

Mitsuhiro began to walk forward towards the coin, but I grabbed his shirt, stopping him.

"Don't move," I hissed. "Something... doesn't seem right."

"What are you talking about?" Mitsuhiro questioned. "It's fine."

"It's too warm. I noticed all the dust on the way in here, the cold temperature, and how the torches weren't lit. This obviously meant that no one has been here in a long time. But the torches in here... they're lit. And this room fills rather humid. And look at the carpets... they look like they were torn with claws..." I looked up at the ceiling, only to see a glowing orange eye staring back at us. "Look out!" I screamed. I grabbed Mitsuhiro and pulled him backwards, onto the floor. The huge creature jumped off the ceiling, landing right in front of us. It looked like... Queen Gohma.

"What is that thing!" Mitsuhiro yelled.

"Dammit! Not this thing again!" I growled. It must have been one of the Queen's babies, there was no way the one I previously fought could still be alive. But this one was different. It's legs had sharper tips, and green and blue twilight markings were running everywhere on its body. Could it have been... a reincarnation? I pulled out my bow and arrow again and aimed at its eye, like I had previously done. But the moment I did that, it jumped up from the floor, and began crawling all over the ceiling. It was faster too. It zipped all around the room, its legs clawing into the sides of the walls. Now I know what the rips in the carpet were responsible for.

"Mitsuhiro!" I yelled at him. He was still on the floor. He looked at me once I called his name. "Aim for its eye!"

"That thing's too fast!" he yelled back. "You'll use up all your arrows trying to hit that thing!"

He was right. I put my bow and arrows away, and I pulled out one of the shuriken holsters I had in my bag. I tied the holster to my belt. I pulled out a second holster and tied it to my leg. I tied the third one to the other side of my belt. I was going to have to use my new skills in this battle.

"Mitsuhiro!" I yelled again. "I'm going to need you to distract that thing while I go in and attack it!"

"You don't honestly think you can defeat that thing?"

"I did it once, I can do it again!"

Mitsuhiro nodded, and he ran out into the arachnid's gaze. "Over here!" he screamed at it. The creature's eye targeted different areas of the room, until it saw him. It let out a loud screech, and it crawled along the wall, heading towards Mitsuhiro. It eventually jumped off the wall, landing directly in front of him. It peered at him with its glowing eye. I could see sweat coming off of Mitsuhiro's face.

"Any time is fine Link!" Mitsuhiro yelled at me in a panicked voice.

I ran around the room, heading the opposite direction where Mitsuhiro was, and I ran to the backside of the spider. I slid onto my back, sliding underneath the spider's body, and then next to Mitsuhiro. As I slid, I threw a star shuriken at the monster's eye. It pierced it, causing the monster to let out another screech. I pulled Mitsuhiro away from the spider as it fell forward onto the floor, stunned. Then I pulled out my blade, telling Mitsuhiro to do the same, and then we slashed at the spider's eye. It screeched as we attacked it, and eventually, it came out of its trance and jumped back up to the ceiling. It crawled along the walls, black blood falling onto the floor from where its wounds were. I picked Mitsuhiro up from the floor. He dusted himself off.

"We're not done yet," I muttered to him. "I think I have a feeling what move the monster is going to make next. If you see something fall from the ceiling, don't hesitate to destroy it. After you've destroyed it, the spider should come back down."

"Whatever you say, I can't really object you at this point," he snickered. We waited at the corner of the room, listening for any sounds from the arachnid's movements. The only thing we could hear was the sound of its feet piercing the bricks in the ceiling, each one making scratching noises.

"Come on, we're going to slowly move towards the center of the room," I hissed at Mitsuhiro. He did as he was told, and he followed me to the center of the room. Small pebbles began to fall from the roof, and I looked up to see spider eggs falling from above. They landed in front of us. "Quick! Destroy them!" I screamed. We both flicked our swords out and cracked the eggs apart, destroying the newborn spiders inside. And, as I predicted, the arachnid jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of us. Without hesitation, I immediately threw out a shuriken from my waist holster and flung it at the spider's eye. It struck it again, and Mitsuhiro and I thrust our swords into its pupil.

The monster gave a final screech, and then died.

I pulled my sword out from its eye, and I wiped it against one of the bandages in my bag, making sure to get every last drop of blood off. I put my sword back into its sheath, and watched as the fallen Queen turned to darkness and disappeared into nothing. Mitsuhiro put his sword away as well, and stared up at the stone coin, which was still remaining on its pedestal.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Mitsuhiro asked me.

"I dunno. I just learned along the way. Why?"

"You said you fought that creature before. When?"

"I think I was around the age of ten. Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"I-It's nothing," he stammered. "I just wanted to know."

"Suit yourself. Where is this Mirror of Twilight anyways?"

"You're looking at it." Mitsuhiro walked up the stairs to the coin, and pressed his hand against it. Golden markings began to glow on its surface, and a beam of light burst from the other side, hitting the brick wall. Designs began to form on the wall, forming a round doorway. A small design of the Triforce was in the middle. "Come on up here," he ordered. I walked up the steps and looked into the portal of light.

"This one takes me back to Termina, right?" I asked.

"It should. Just step on this rectangle shaped spot here, and you'll be taken back to the world of light." He pointed to a glowing rectangle design on the floor in front of the mirror.

"I'll see you later then, Mitsuhiro," I said. I stepped onto the rectangular design, and light began to flow from the floor. I could feel my body dissolving into small drops of light, and traveling through the door. I watched as the room and Mitsuhiro became smaller, until they were all covered in light. I could feel my body speeding up, and then slowing down, and then reforming itself on a layer of light green grass. I opened my eyes to see bright sunshine, a blue sky, and the Clock Town walls.

At last, I was home.

And after opening my eyes, the next thing I felt was my body being squashed by an overly-worried Byrne.

Yep, this was home all right.


	12. Leaving Clock Town

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 12: Leaving Clock Town**

Byrne dragged me inside his store by my shirt. I couldn't tell whether he was happy I was back, or really pissed off that I left. His expression was like a jumble of anger and happiness. He threw me against the wall, throwing my head back against it.

"Ow, not so hard...," I moaned. "I fell on the ground a lot while I was away."

"You have some explaining to do!" he yelled at me. "Where have you been?"

"Okay, Mother," I said sarcastically. "I've been away on a little errand. That good enough?"

He slammed his fist hard into my stomach, knocking all the wind out of me.

"Link!" he screamed. "Get serious!"

I regained my air, and stood up from the floor. "Fine, I'll tell you..."

And I did.

Byrne's expression was blank, then he scowled. "What, do you actually expect me to believe that?"

"Byrne! I'm telling the truth!" I yelled. "How could you think I'd make up something like that? I can even show you proof! Look!" I pulled out one of my shurikens from my holster. "See? And the Time Gate is real too!" I pulled it out and showed it to him.

He lowered his eyes in defeat. "So, you really went on this adventure? You really met Reapers, and trained with them?"

"_Yes!_ How many times do I have to repeat myself? Get the gum out of your ears!"

He growled and punched at me again, but I quickly dodged him and grabbed his fist.

"See? I'm faster now too." I released his hand, and walked to my room. I slammed the door hard.

I fell on my back onto my bed and sighed. Why wouldn't Byrne believe me about something like that? He knew about all my previous adventures, so this one shouldn't have stricken to him as a lie. I threw my bag against the wall in anger, but when it landed, it made a loud screech. I jumped from the sound. I slowly went to my bag to investigate, and I opened the top flap. Mr. Mew stuck his head out.

"What the...?" I muttered to myself. I picked up the cat. "How did you get in there?" It was then that I noticed what the cat _really_ looked like. It had smooth black fur, and big red eyes. It's paws were big, as was its ears. On its head, it had extra soft fur growing, almost as if it was hair. It sprouted rough dragon wings on its back, and it had a long tail that was probably twice the size of its own body. What kind of cat _was_ this?

The cat licked my face with its small tongue. She was kind of cute.

"Well, you can't stay here," I told her. "I'm just going to have to return you to Shuto the next time I'm in the Dark Realm. Until then, you can travel around with me, okay?" The cat tilted its head as if it understood. She purred and rubbed her face against mine. I placed her back into my bag. She curled up inside it, and then fell asleep.

I sat back down on my bed, and began to tap my fingers against the wall. I just remembered how boring it was here: no Uzuki to talk to, no Mitsuhiro to get teased by, no Yashiro to jokingly punch me in the back. I jumped from my bed again and reached into my bag, past Mr. Mew, and grabbed my bandages. I was going to train for the rest of the afternoon, so there was no point in risking any wounds. I opened my door, and stepped out into the lobby. Byrne was gone.

I walked to the next door, and stepped outside. I had to hold my hand up over my face to block the sunlight. I still wasn't used to that. When my eyes adjusted, I could see that the town was still as bustling as ever, even with the carnival over. I strolled around East Clock Town, taking in the view of the huge buildings, and happy people.

"There he is!" I heard a battle cry. Suddenly, all five of the Bombers came and began firing rocks at me with their blowsticks.

"Ow!" I yelped as the sharp rocks banged off my face. "What gives!"

The leader gave me a sour look. "Don't act so innocent! We both know what you did!"

"What did I do?" I asked, confused.

"You're dumb! You honestly think you can get away by acting so innocent?"

"Listen, I don't care how ticked off you are at something I don't remember doing. But I have no need for this." Then I got an idea. "Hey kids, if you wanna shoot rocks at me, can you help me train?"

"What the? Don't change the subject!"

"No, I'm serious! You guys can help me train, all you gotta do is fire rocks at me!"

"Um, okay, if you insist." He took a deep breath, ready to fire another rock at me.

"Not now!" I interrupted. "Come on out to my backyard. We'll train there, where it's less likely that you guys will hit anyone else." I guided them through the shop, and then out the backdoor, where there was a small backyard. The entire yard was surrounded by brick walls from neighboring houses. I walked to the center of the area, and the boys followed.

"Okay, now I want all you boys to stand in a straight line," I ordered.

The leader shrugged to his comrades, and they ordered themselves out into a straight line.

"Now, when I say go, I want all five of you to fire rocks at me. Don't hold back, blow as many as you can, as fast as you can."

They all shrugged at each other, took deep breaths, and fired multiple rocks at me. I dodged them as fast as I could. This was going to be agility training for me. At least they were better than arrows, right? The rocks began to fly faster, and I dodged them by ducking, swerving, and blocking with my arms. They seemed to be having lots of fun with this, considering all the laughs that were coming out of them when they shot at me. But what did they mean by 'acting innocent'? I never did anything to them, they just did terrible things to me.

But wait.

It must have been Kon.

He must have done something to annoy the Bombers.

Whatever it was, I wanted to find out what he had done. I would have to ask the Bombers after training.

The boys kept firing rocks at me, laughing at my attempts to dodge. It didn't look very cool, I know, but this was for training. It would look cool eventually. We continued our training for the next two hours. At least this would tire the kids out. When we were finished, I was sweating, and the Bombers were all piled up in a heap on the ground, all of them asleep. I left them there as I walked back into the store. Byrne was sitting down at the table, reading a newspaper.

"Hey Byrne," I greeted, hoping that he had gotten over our little fight.

He looked up from his newspaper, and smiled at me. He never held a grudge. "What in Nayru's name were you kids doing out there? I could hear screams and laughter!"

"They were... helping me with my training."

"I see."

"Hey, shouldn't you be working on a delivery or something?"

"Nah, I haven't had any orders in a while. It's always like this after the carnival. Business will speed up soon though. So what about you? By the look on your face, I'm guessing you'll be leaving Clock Town for good soon."

"Byrne..."

"No, I don't mind. I'll be fine here. You go on that journey of yours. Have fun, but don't get too hurt, you hear?"

I nodded. He stood up from his chair, and rustled my hair.

"You're a... special kid," he muttered. "I'm gonna miss you. But you know what? When you come back, and if you're stronger, I'll have a gift ready for you. A gift that only true fighters can use. You come back when you get stronger, okay?"

"I promise," I said. Byrne smiled and jokingly punched my shoulder. I smiled back, and then I went into my room to get my bag. I lifted it softly, remembering that Mr. Mew was sleeping inside, and I gently swung it over my shoulder. I walked back out into the lobby, and headed towards the door.

"By the way, Link..," Byrne began. I stopped. "I heard you had a bit of a run-in with the Bombers the other day. They said you spit into the leader's mouth."

So that's what Kon did.

"Oh, see, that wasn't me, it was a puppet created by one of the Reapers. He took my place while I was in the Dark Realm."

"Uh-huh, okay, I'll have to tell that to the Bombers. Don't know if they'll believe you though."

"I'll bring Kon here someday then. Along with all my Reaper friends."

"I'm looking forward to meeting them."

"See you... Byrne," I said, and left the building without another word. I stopped outside the door. It felt strange, leaving this town. Byrne was like family to me, he had taken care of me since I was ten. And I had lots of new friends here, like Kafei and the Bombers. I had all sorts of adventures too, from the battle against Majora's Mask, to simpler adventures, like when Kafei and I had put lit Deku Nuts in Byrne's birthday cake. That was... messy. I was going to miss Byrne, but I knew I would see him again.

When I was stronger.

I walked down the brick pathways of Clock Town, continuing to take in the fresh air and beautiful sunlight. I still hadn't left yet. I still had some things I had to do first. The first thing I did was go to the bank and get out all the money I had saved up.

"Hello, I'd like to make a withdrawal," I said to the man.

"Just a second, let me check you," he said, taking my bank card. "Ah yes! You're Link. Sir, you currently have a balance of three thousand five hundred and twenty five rupees. How much would you like to withdraw?"

"All of it."

"All of it? You can't go spending money all at once like that!"

I made my voice lower, so no one else could hear. "Listen, I'm leaving Clock Town, and I'm not coming back for a while. I need all the money I can get. But don't tell anyone I'm leaving, okay?"

"Oh, I gotcha," he whispered back.

"Thank-"

"Hey everybody!" he screamed out to the crowds of people. "Link is leaving Clock Town!"

Everyone in West Clock Town came and surrounded me, asking me a million questions.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him angrily.

"Well, you can't leave Link! You've done so much to help, and now you insist on leaving?" the banker asked.

I turned to the crowd. "Yeah, I'm leaving, okay? No big whoop, just continue your day!" The crowd's words began to soften to buzzing noises. One of the Bombers walked up to me.

"Why are you leaving, Link?" he asked.

"I have something important to do. I can't stay here, it would put this entire town in jeopardy." I looked at the crowd. "Sorry for leaving at a time like this, but I have to go! I'm sorry!" The crowd disbanded, each person holding their heads low. I could hear some people crying.

I left the bank and walked down the curved stairway, leading me back to South Clock Town. I went to the Clock Tower and pushed opened the heavy doors. It was musty inside, and spiderwebs hung from the ceiling. I could still hear the sound of water rushing from below me. The last time I was here was when I met Mitsuhiro.

I walked through the main area of the tower, making sure to take big steps so I wouldn't trip over anything. As I took another step, my foot landed on something small. I lifted my foot back up, and bent down to examine the object. It was a pair of goggles. The glass in one of the eyepieces was cracked, but I could fix it up easily. I put the goggles in my bag, and continued on through the tower. I scraped my hands against the wall, until I felt a long bump that continued from the ceiling to the floor.

"Here it is!" I said to myself. I placed my left hand on the bump, and my Triforce lit up, lighting up several designs on the wall. The bump moved up, and the wall came apart like a door, the bricks shifting around each other until the door was big enough for me to fit through. I reached my arm in, and pulled out a brown bag. It had several rips in the side, but nothing a good mending couldn't solve. I had found this bag on one of my previous adventures: it could carry anything, any size, and as many things as you wanted. It never filled up. I sat down against the wall, and opened the bag. All of my masks were inside, along with my old items. My Zora and Goron's adult sized tunics were in there too, along with my items that I couldn't use in my kid form, like my Megaton Hammer.

I pulled out all my masks and counted them, trying to remember the names of each one. I had kept most of them in this bag, except for certain ones that I would end up using during a regular day (the All Night Mask for example, for sitting through Anju's grandmother's long long stories). The only mask that wasn't there was the Fierce Deity's Mask, which had mysteriously disappeared after I used it against Majora's Mask. I sorted the masks back into my bag, and then I carried it outside.

As I walked towards the South Gate, I could see three men in black robes chatting amongst themselves near the stairway to the Laundry Area. Their robes were somewhat similar to the Time Keepers', but they had more zippers on the sides and front. Their hoods were down, allowing me to see their faces.

The first one had silver hair that spiked up a little at the sides, and a thin face. His eyes were thin and a strange yellow color. His bangs fell over his eyes, and he had a strange scar on his neck.

The second one was a bit shorter, and he also had silver hair. It didn't spike up though, and most of it fell over his face. I could see that his eyes were a deep black. He looked identical to the first one.

The third one was completely different. He didn't have a scrawny build like the others, but he was huge, and he had a bigger face. He had black eyes as well, but his right eye was covered with a strange device that circled over his head, causing his hair to spike up a lot at the top. The right sleeve on his robe was bulked up underneath, like something was underneath it.

The three men talked to each other, some of them looking around the area, as if they were looking for something. Then, the first one looked at me, and bore a grin, his teeth bearing fangs at the corners of his mouth. He said something to his comrades, and then they all turned to look at me. They all grinned, each of them having fangs in the back of their mouths. They began to walk towards me, the second man cracking his neck.

I ran.

I turned my head back to see them following me. They were flying with black wings. They were Reapers. But how were they able to survive in this world? Reapers couldn't live in light! I continued to run through the alleyways, looking back every so often to see if they were still chasing me. They were _gaining_ on me. I started to run out of breath, but then my adrenaline kicked in, and I ran faster. I reached my hand into one of my shuriken holsters, and grabbed a few stars. I twisted my body around as I ran, and flung three shurikens at them. One of them laughed and grabbed the shuriken as it zoomed through the air. So it _was_ possible to catch them. The other two where deflected by the huge guy's arm. It should have gone through. I slid and turned the corner into another alley, and the Reapers stopped flying and began to run. Eventually, I came to a dead end.

The Reapers cornered me, all of them with the same insane look in their eyes. The big one tore the right sleeve from his robe, revealing a mechanical arm. It had wires attached to the metal, and a glass container attached between the arm and the hand, carrying strange colored fluids. His fingers were made of sharp metal. They almost looked like claws. He pointed at me.

"You're coming with us," he laughed. Even his voice had a sharp tone. He looked at first Reaper. "Hey Iwata, what do you say we tear this kid's limbs apart? Come on, it'll be fun."

"I feel compelled to do so upon your offer, but we need this kid," he said. His voice was colder. "Limbs included."

"Come on Jun!" the big guy said to the other one. "Don't you want to have some fun destroying this fairy?"

"Sorry, I have to side with Iwata on this one, Mikumo. We need him."

"Darn," he muttered.

"What do you want from me?" I screamed at them, and pulled out my sword. I aimed it at them, and held my shield close to my body for defense.

"Pathetic little blade," Mikumo said, and wrapped his robot hand around my sword. He bent his fingers, crushing blade into pieces. "Now, be a good little fairy boy and come with us."

Man, was I getting sick of that word. Fairy Boy. I growled and looked above. I was leaning against a brick wall.

"Take this!" I yelled at them, and threw a Deku Nut at the ground. It made a huge flash, stunning the Reapers for a moment. I used this time to focus my magic to my feet and climb up the brick wall. I landed on the roof of a building. I looked down to see the Reapers swearing and yelling at each other, trying to find me. I stepped away from the ledge and farther onto the roof. My bag began to move, so I pulled it off my back and let Mr. Mew out for a breath of air. She jumped out and leaped onto my back.

"Hey!" I hissed at her. "Now's not the time to play!" The cat tilted her head, and then in a flash, her face looked like mine. "What? You can change your appearance?"

The cat meowed happily, and gave me a thumbs-up with her human hand. She jumped off my back.

"Miu, do you think you can distract them for me?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Good! Meet me at the Southern End of the town, okay?"

She nodded again. She walked the opposite direction of me, and jumped off the roof, landing in the same area where the Reapers were.

"Hey! There's the little brat!" I heard Mikumo yell.

I made my way across the roof, and over buildings. I made sure to lay low, just in case a Reaper would fly over my head and see me. I walked down walls with my feet, and jumped over gaps between the building roofs. Every so often, I'd hide myself behind a house or anything I could find when I heard a screech from the Reapers. Things wouldn't go out well if they found me and Miu together.

The hardest part was going to be making my way through South Clock Town. The entire area was open, and the only defense I had were things to hide behind, like billboards and food stalls. I snuck my way out of the alley and quickly made my way out into the main area. I could tell the Reapers were close. I could hear their cursing and screaming growing louder. I took a deep breath and ran as fast as I could towards the exit. I ran, pushing past the small groups of people that were scattered everywhere. Then I began to sprint, and as I made it to the entrance, I pulled out my ocarina. Quickly finding the fingerings as I ran, I played Epona's Song the moment I reached the outdoors. Epona was already there, and I leaped onto her back. But I couldn't leave yet, not without Miu. I waited for a few seconds, and was soon greeted by a small black cat coming out from the town. The Reapers were gone. Where they were, I don't know, but Miu managed to get rid of them. Miu leaped up onto Epona's saddle and curled herself inside my bag. I kicked Epona in her sides, and we took off into the forest, leaving behind those terrible Reapers.

And leaving behind my home.

I rode Epona through the forest, feeling familiarity from my first journey to Clock Town, and my delivery to Kalasia. I didn't want to leave my home, but I didn't want those Reapers to come after me either, putting the entire town in jeopardy. But where was I going to go? They couldn't get me in Hyrule, but then again, they did manage to get twilight there, allowing their pawns to attack us. But one of the Time Keepers had told me that one of the enemies was Shuto's older brother. Mikumo was the only one that threatened to attack me, but Iwata and Jun looked like they were the ones in charge of his actions. He must have been in lower ranking in the Reaper Society.

There was only one place I could go for help.

I was going back to Hyrule.


	13. First Encounter with the Darkness

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 13: First Encounter with the Darkness**

_My body is trembling._

_Because of the fear?_

_Because of the darkness?_

_That I will never know. _

_But whatever it is, my body refuses to move. Instead I stand here, attempting to free myself from the darkness in front of me. All I can do is tremble, as the man from the darkness approaches me. I reach for my sword. But it's not there. I look at the man, to see that he has it. And it's not just my regular blade, but the Master Sword itself. But something's wrong. The blade of evil's bane... has twilight wrapped around its metal. Black twilight. The same twilight of the Dark Realm. As I try and make out the man's face, I start to believe it's Ganondorf._

_But it's not._

_He's someone else. He looks taller, and he has long black hair that falls to his shoulders. It shines like steel. His eyes are a strange yellow color, and surrounding his pupil is pure black. His face is pale and thin. He wears a black shirt with the left sleeve torn off. On his left arm is multiple scars filled with blood, almost as if he was attacked by claws. After the wound, the black sleeve continues. He wears baggy black pants, and a long black piece of cloth hangs from his belt so that it is covering around his left leg and behind. He also wears black boots. Surely this man was an entity of darkness. He carried the twilight Master Sword in his right hand, and on his left hand was a glowing black Triforce._

_He smirked at me, baring fangs at the top and bottom corners of his mouth. He licked his lower lip with his tongue, and grasped his sword tightly. The next thing I knew, his blade was piercing through my body, even as I grasped it with my hands. I could feel my blood falling from my body. _

_He brings his face up to my ear. "Wake up, kid..." he mutters in a cold, cruel voice. "Wake up!" He pulls his blade from my body, and kicks me to the ground. I look up to see the man looking down at me, but there was someone else next to him. A man about the same size as him, except with white-silver hair. He wears a tunic, and his hat trails down to his waist. He holds a blue blade that twists around to the handle, and in his left hand, he has a glowing golden Triforce. He has blue and red paint designs on his forehead and jaw._

_"Please...," the silver-haired one cries. "Wake up..." He bends down and puts his hand on my forehead. "We need you... wake up... so we can be free again..."_

Damn. Another hellish nightmare. I was starting to get used to them, so I usually only woke up with sweat running down my face. But the carnival was over... the nightmares should have stopped. And these nightmares weren't connected to the carnival at all. They were unlike any dream I had ever had before. And they were always the same. The black-haired one would attempt to kill me, and then the silver-haired one would tell me to wake up. What did they mean by waking up? Was it just my brain trying to wake me up from my nightmares, or was it something else? The silver-haired one also said that if I woke up, they would be free again. I had a feeling I had seen that silver-haired man once before too. He looked similar to my Fierce Deity form. The other one didn't strike me as one bit familiar, but as I thought about it, he sort of resembled the crazy Shadow Me I had encountered in the Water Temple, back on my journey to save Hyrule from Ganondorf. But that thing was just an illusion, right? One of those bosses I encountered halfway through a temple?

I stood up and stretched, uncomfortable from sleeping against a tree and on grass stained with dew. I grabbed my hat off a tree branch and put it back over my head. I opened my bag and pulled out my Time Gate. I desperately wanted to try out the time traveling method, but I had never asked Uzuki how to do that. All I could do was continue to fill out entries. I wrote in the details about my dream, and then I made of drawing of what the two men looked like. When I looked at the drawings together, the guys almost looked the same, but I could tell from my dream that they had different personalities. The silver-haired one seemed wiser, but the black-haired one seemed more cruel, almost evil. And what was with his sword? It looked like the Master Sword, except infused with twilight. I didn't want to see that again.

Mr. Mew crawled out from my bag and curled up on my lap as I wrote and drew. She sure liked her sleep. But I wondered what type of cat she was. I didn't know of any cats that had wings, or could transform. Maybe it was because she was from the Dark Realm. But did all cats and other pets from the Dark Realm look like this? I had so many questions that I wanted to find the answers too. I wanted to know the meaning to my dreams. I wanted to know what Miiu was. I wanted to know who those people in my dream were. I wanted to know what happened to the Reapers back in Clock Town, and what their true objective was. I wrote down these questions in my Time Gate, so that I could remember them, and find the answers to them.

I now had several goals in mind. First, I was going to make it back to Hyrule, and ask Zelda if anything suspicious had happened. I would also have to check if Mitsuhiro and the others had gotten rid of the twilight around the castle yet. After that, I would find someplace to stay in the market, allowing myself to train, and to plan what was next. I would also have to find the Mirror of Twilight in Hyrule, and return Mr. Mew to Shuto. He was probably worried sick about her by now.

I closed my Time Gate, and put it inside my bag. I gently lifted Miu, trying not to wake her up, and put her inside my bag next to my Time Gate. I looked around the area. I was still in the forest, completely surrounded by trees, and there was a lake a bit ahead of us. I set my bag against the tree I had slept against, and turned around to face some of the trees. I could use these to train.

I pulled out a star shuriken and flung it at the tree. It flew in a straight line, and stuck itself into the bark. I had been getting better at using these things, thanks to the practice I had put into it back at the Dark Realm. I yanked the star shuriken out of the tree, and put it back into my holster. I pulled out an iron shuriken. Nothing wrong with trying out a new weapon, right? I remembered what Uzuki had told me, and I grasped the shuriken like a disk. I threw it as hard as I could, and it hit the bottom of the tree trunk. I sighed. It wasn't that they were harder to throw, they were just a bit heavier. I kept trying, but I couldn't seem to get it any higher than the middle section of the tree. What was I doing wrong? Maybe I had to throw the shuriken horizontal instead of vertical. I tried it, but it just made it worse. It didn't even make it onto the tree.

"Damn, that's hard," I said to myself. I grabbed the shurikens out of the tree, and put all of them back into my holster, except for one. I took it and flung it vertically, but this time, I made sure to release it from my hands sooner. It flew from my fingertips, and landed right in the middle section of the tree. So that was the trick. "I did it!" I cheered to myself. I threw several more iron shurikens, until I was positive that I mastered it.

I grabbed one of the kunais out of the holster on my leg. It looked like it was going to be harder to throw. I grasped the handle, and threw it at the tree. It was easier than I thought. It zoomed into the bark. I pulled the kunai out, and examined the end of the handle. It had an iron ring, big enough for me to slip my finger through. I held it differently this time, and realized that I could use it like a knife too.

The last thing I attempted to use was the windmill shuriken. The first thing I had to do was figure out how to open it. It only had one blade on ring, but when I tilted it, I could see that it had three more blades underneath, and a long slit was in the ring. The slits were probably for the other blades. I put my fingers through the ring, and flung it upwards, holding onto it tightly. The blades flew out so that one blade was on each side of the ring: north, south, east and west. It was _huge_.

The next thing I had to figure out was how to throw it. I held it similar to the star shuriken, so I figured it would have to be thrown the same way. I threw it vertically, and it shot across the ground towards the tree. But then it turned, and slid to the ground. It must have turned because of the way I had thrown it. During the second attempt, I twisted my hand differently as I threw it, and this time, it turned the _other_ direction. I had to keep my hand at a certain position. I grabbed the shuriken again and threw it at the tree for the third time, this time keeping my hand straight. The shuriken hovered vertically along the grass, and landed right in the bark. Small pieces of the tree came flying off. I smiled and pulled the shuriken out from the tree. My training was going perfectly. I folded the windmill back up to a single blade. It was too big for me to put in my holster, so I put it into my bag.

I wanted to practice tree climbing again, so I began to focus the magic to my feet. It was easier for me to concentrate this time around, because I had done it so many times. I wanted to try jumping from one tree to another next, so I focused my magic harder than usual, and I leaped through the air. As I reached the next tree though, I knew I wouldn't be able to bring my feet up in time, so I took some of the extra magic from my feet and focused it to my hands. When I hit the tree, I stuck my hands to the bark, then my feet. I stuck to it. It felt pretty cool too, like I was a spider. I crawled down the tree, and rotated myself so that my feet would hit the ground first. I stepped onto the grass, and smiled to myself in victory. I was becoming stronger.

I looked at the lake ahead of me. I wondered if it was possible to walk on water too...

I ran over to the lake and dipped my finger into the water. It was ice cold. I took a deep breath, and began to take a step forward, knowing that if I made a false move, I would fall into freezing cold water. I took a small step first, and then bigger steps as I made my way out onto the lake. As I walked, my feet left small ripples in the water. This was the coolest thing ever! Then I heard a rustle in the trees, and I lost my concentration. My feet fell through the water, my body falling with them into the freezing lake. I burst up from the water, my teeth chattering, and I swam to the grass. I pulled myself out from the lake, my clothes wet, and my skin freezing. I checked what the rustle was from. It was just a damn squirrel!

I groaned and pulled my shirt off. I shook it in the air, but it was still soaking wet. I groaned again, and set the shirt on a tree limb to dry. I sat down against a tree, and opened my bag. I reached in, and felt something soft and fabric-like. I pulled it out. It was the jacket Byrne had let me use on my trip to Kalasia. It was still too big, but I wrapped myself in it anyways. It was warm, and before I knew it, I fell asleep inside of its fabric.

When I opened my eyes, I could smell smoke. I coughed from the smoke invading my lungs, and I got down to my stomach. There was smoke everywhere, and I could see flames enveloping the trees. I looked for Miu. She was standing across from me, meowing at the sky. I looked for my shirt, which was amazingly still on the tree limb, but now covered in ashes and soot. I grabbed my bag and crawled over to Miu. I tried to make out what she was seeing, but it was hard with all the smoke. I squinted, and saw a man standing on a tree branch.

It was the black-haired man from my dream.

He grinned at me, bearing his fangs again, and he jumped down from the tree. He began walking towards me. This has to be a dream, I thought to myself, panicking. It has to be. The man came closer, until he was standing right in front of me. He folded his arms, and sneered.

"You had it coming kid," he said. "You refused to wake up."

"I-I don't even know what you mean!" I stammered. I was confused why the flames didn't come any closer to us.

"That's because you're weak, which is exactly the reason why you can't wake up!"

"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing?" I looked up to the sky to see the silver-haired man standing on a tree branch. I must have been going insane.

"Hey! Deity! This isn't your fight! Quit following me!" the black-haired one yelled. "Don't be a showoff!"

"Showoff? I'd rather call myself 'Suited for the Hero'. He's used my power already, but he's never used you yet." Now I knew where I recognized him from. He was my Fierce Deity form. But how did he manage to get out from the mask?

"You better shut up, you damn monster!" the black-haired man yelled at the other man.

"Really? I'm the monster? Who's the one that's creating an illusion of flames to scare the poor boy? Who's the one who can only be awakened with the power of darkness? Who's the one who insists on killing the boy?"

"Back off!" The black-haired man thrust his arms forward, and a sphere of darkness fired from his open palms. The sphere zoomed towards the Deity, and he leaped off the tree, landing on the grass. Note to self: after this, go to nearest psychiatric hospital.

The Deity walked up from behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Link, do not listen to this man. He is pure evil," he said to me.

"Deity! I'm a part of him too! Don't deceive him!" the black-haired one yelled.

"Well, Link, who do _you_ trust?" the Deity asked me. I was so confused. I didn't know what to say.

"I don't trust either of you. I don't know who you are. And quit invading my dreams!" I spun around towards the Deity, and swung my arm at him. He quickly grabbed my wrist, and looked in my eyes.

"Link, if you destroy me, there will only be _him, _the darkness in your heart."

"But light can't live without darkness! If you kill me, you'll only have light, and Goddess knows where that'll lead!" the other man yelled.

"Dark, you are purely evil," the Deity muttered.

"That's not my name! How many times do I have to tell you!"

"But that's what you are. You are darkness. Shadows. Twilight. The evil side of Link." The Deity released my hand.

"But that shouldn't make any damn difference! I'm still a part of Link's soul!" He pulled out his cursed Master Sword.

"I don't want to fight you here," the Deity said. "Just take away this illusion, and leave. If you don't, I can't guarantee that you'll be alive tomorrow morning."

"Cut the threats!"

"Just get out of here, _Dex_."

The man gave the Deity a look of disgust, and then he snapped his fingers. The flames around us began to disperse, and the smoke disappeared. Everything looked as if nothing had happened. It was just an illusion?

"You're going to regret this someday," Dex hissed. His body began to disintegrate into twilight, and they rose up to the sky.

The Deity smiled at me. "You'll get stronger someday, Link. I promise." Then he took his hand, and slammed it down on my neck, knocking me out cold.

When I opened my eyes again, the forest was fine. Was it all a dream, or was I just going nuts? I looked in my bag to see Miu sleeping inside. It was as if nothing had happened, and it was all a bad dream. But now I knew their names. Deity and Dark... no, Dex. They were definitely enemies. But what were their objectives? I added this question to my Time Gate. I took out my ocarina and played Epona's Song. She came trotting up to me, and I mounted her. I had to get to Hyrule. There was no time to lose. I kicked Epona, and she took off, riding through the forest as fast as her legs could take her. We ran through the forest, trying to find any sign of a village, anything. Then I stopped Epona, and she slid to a stop.

I could play the Prelude of Light.

Why the hell didn't I think of that earlier?

I jumped off Epona and played the Prelude of Light on my ocarina. I watched as my body turned into small orbs of light, and flew over the forests. I watched as the fields and forests zoomed by. I finally saw castle walls, and the orbs of light brought me to the market and into the Temple of Time. My body reformed itself on the warping pedestal, and the orbs of light disappeared. I looked ahead to see the Spiritual Stones still set on the table. Thank Goddess they were still there.

I turned around towards the exit, and walked down the stairs leading to the market. Multiple dogs were running around the area, and Sheikah Stones were placed around the temple. I looked up to the sky. Not a trace of twilight. The Time Keepers had taken care of things. I wondered if Zelda had even stepped foot outside of the castle since that little incident with the Reapers. I hope she was alright.

I walked through the center of the market, still as bustling as ever. News travels like lightning in Hyrule, but it was weird that nobody had heard about the Reapers attacking the castle. They were all just talking about other news. When I asked a lady if she had heard about the Reaper incident, she just shrugged, and when about her day.

"What's going on here?" I asked myself. But maybe it was better that nobody knew. That way there wouldn't be any suspicion. I went in the direction of Hyrule Castle, and as I reached the guards, I saluted them.

"You know who I am," I muttered to them as I reached the gate. The guard on the left nodded and ordered the other guard to open the gate. I looked at the other one. It was a different guy. They didn't have multiple shifts for the same place here in Hyrule. That meant that something must have happened to the other guy. The gate opened, and I walked up the hill leading to the castle.

But wait... I knew why the old guard wasn't there.

Because the old guard was one of the Reaper infiltrators. It did make sense, I mean, how many Hylians do you know have silver hair? Not many. The guy must have been one of those Reapers that were trying to attack me back in Clock Town. Not the big guy, but one of the skinny ones. I would have to tell Zelda to watch out for men with silver hair and black robes.

I walked up the hill, and told the guards at the second gate who I was. They recognized me from the last time, and they let me through. I went over the drawbridge, and into the main hall of the castle. It looked better than I expected. The windows weren't smashed, and the ground wasn't stained with bodies. Everything was in order. Did the Reapers do something else besides getting rid of the twilight?

There were two guards waiting in there too. I told them who I was, and the one to my left smiled at me.

"Ah, yes, the Princess has been wanting to see you," he chuckled.

I blushed. "Really?"

"Yes, she's been waiting for you to visit."

"Where is she?"

"Up in her room, with Lady Impa."

"Thanks." I turned to my left and walked up the staircase. I was really worried about Zelda. I was worried about Hyrule's fate. I was worried about the Time Keepers back in the Dark Realm.

But when I stepped in the room, my worries were washed away when Zelda grabbed me and hugged me tight.


	14. Saved by the Darkness

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 14: Saved by the Darkness**

I held my arms around Zelda, rubbing her head with my hand.

"It's good to see you too," I said softly. She released her arms from me, and tilted her head. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"You look terrible." She pointed out the small bits of dirt on my face and clothes.

"Sorry if I got dirt on your dress. Things have been kind of rough."

Impa walked up to me. "Would you like me to get you a bath ready?" she asked me.

"That would be great, Impa." She left the room and walked down the staircase, leaving me and Zelda alone.

"Zelda, I need to talk to you about something important," I muttered.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What happened to the people? Do they know about the Reaper's attack?"

"No, they've forgotten all about it. You know that guy you introduced me to the last time you were here? Mitsuhiro? About a day ago, he and his friends came up to Hyrule, and they got rid of the twilight around the castle. Then, the other boy erased everyone's memory. Only me and Impa remember what happened. The tall girl with the black hair got rid of the dead bodies, and the shorter girl put the castle back in order. Everyone doesn't know what happened, and I don't think they ever will."

"I see. Have you stepped foot out of the castle since then?"

"No, I didn't. Impa won't let me. But I have been able to watch the borders between Hyrule Castle and the market."

"Have you seen any suspicious people? Anyone with silver hair and wearing a black robe?"

"I saw a man with silver hair and another man all dressed in black. Does that help?"

"Do you have any more information than that? About these two men?"

"They were standing near the first gate to the castle, and they were arguing about something. After watching them for a few minutes, the black-clothed one disappeared, and the silver-haired one stayed. After a while, he disappeared too."

A silver haired man. Another man wearing all black. Both of them arguing over something.

The Deity and Dex.

I smiled at Zelda. "Thanks. This is a huge help."

"I'm glad I could be of help," she said, and smiled back.

"By the way, Zelda, do you know about something called the Mirror of Twilight?"

She gasped and tightened her hands into small fists. "It's a relic, used to transport people between our world and the Dark Realm. You don't plan on going back there, do you?"

"Well, I gotta return Miu back to her owner."

"Miu?"

I opened my bag and pulled Miu out from her slumber. Zelda giggled and pet the kitten.

"I have _no_ idea how she got in there, but I plan on returning her. Shuto must be worried about her by now. He's probably tearing the house apart looking for her..."

"Hey, what's this?" Zelda said, and poked the collar on the cat's neck. She placed her finger on the small blue gem. I held up Miu to examine the jewel.

"You know, I never noticed that before," I mumbled. "She spends so much time sleeping, I never really get a chance to look at her." I pulled the collar of Miu's neck, and held in close to my eyes for examination. I scratched the side of the jewel, and then it got real hot. I dropped it, the heat nearly burning my finger. It fell from my hand, and just as it reached the floor, it began to hover. It shifted itself upwards, and then floated up to my face. It began to glow blue. Suddenly, a thin beam shot up from the tip, and from it, a round circle of blue static appeared. Shuto's face appeared on the circle.

"Hey Yashiro! I got a connection!" he yelled.

"What in Goddess's name?" I muttered to myself. I wasn't sure if Zelda heard me. She was staring blankly at the image.

In the image, Yashiro walked up next to Shuto.

"Wow! I didn't think it would work! Hey Link!" Yashiro smiled and waved at me. I stared at her dumbfounded.

"Uh, hi? Shuto, what is this thing?" I asked him.

"Sorry for not telling you about this, I never thought it would work!" Shuto laughed. "It's a communication transmitter! C.T. for short! We have a bunch of these things in the Dark Realm, but I didn't think it would work in your world! I simply attached it to Mr. Mew's collar, and then I snuck her in your bag!"

"I thought she snuck in herself! You put her in there?"

"Yep! You can hold onto her a little while longer. She might be of help to you."

"Yeah, she's already saved my ass once."

"Good girl!" Shuto said to Miu. She meowed gleefully.

"By the way Shuto, what _is_ Miu anyways? She kinda defies the way of a _cat_."

"She's just an evolved protozoan. No big whoop. We have a few of them over here. I'll tell you some other time, but right now we need to discuss something important. How's your training going?"

"It's good, I've mastered throwing the different types of shurikens. I just need to train in hand to hand combat."

"That's... gonna take you a while to master. It'll be a long time before you are truly a strong fighter."

"I'll do whatever it takes to become stronger. You'll see. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Did you find the Mirror of Twilight yet?"

"No, I'm working on it though. Anything else?"

"Well, Mitsuhiro said you two ran into a monster at the Mirror Sanctuary. What was that all about?"

"It was Queen Gohma. It's weird, because I already destroyed her in my previous adventures. She looked like she had been _resurrected._"

"That can't be good. We'll contact you again later, so get as much information as you can possibly get."

"See you later, Shuto." The static field flickered a few times, and then disappeared. I attached the jewel back to Miu's collar, just in time to see Impa come in the room.

"You can go have your bath now, if you wish," Impa said.

"Thanks."

After I had taken my bath and changed into a new tunic (it was pretty much the same, but had a chain mail underneath), Impa allowed me to stay in a spare room on the second floor. It was rather large, with a huge window with velvet curtains. A small bed was placed in the corner, and a desk was against the wall. It looked similar to Zelda's room.

"You don't mind me staying here for a while?" I asked Impa.

"Of course not. You have all the right to stay here," she replied. "There's also a training area in the backyard, if you wish to try out your sword skills. I'll show you the place tomorrow."

"What time is it anyways?"

"Around six in the evening. Is there anything you wish to do before nightfall?"

"I think I'm just going to take a walk through the market, and think things over a bit. I'm still not so sure what I'm going to do yet."

"Is it alright... if I come along with you?" Zelda asked, her voice soft.

I looked at her, concerned. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. It's not safe for you to be outside the grounds."

"I have you to protect me."

I sighed. "If it's fine with Impa, then sure, you can come along."

Zelda turned to Impa. "Please?"

"I know I'll regret this later, but... sure, go ahead," Impa mumbled.

"Thanks Impa!" Zelda laughed, and hugged her.

"Just stay out of trouble, you hear?"

"I will!"

I opened the bedroom door and walked down the stairs to the throne room. Zelda followed close behind me. We left the castle grounds, the guards keeping a close eye on us as we left, and once we were out of the guards' gaze, I turned down a street. Houses were surrounding this entire area, leaving only one road to walk down. Zelda walked beside me, her steps graceful and soft. We just talked amongst ourselves, asking each other how our lives had been for past three years. Zelda's life hadn't been much different than mine. She didn't do much in a day, but she worked hard to support her kingdom whenever she had the chance. But her story was like mine: dull. No adventures. Nothing amazing to talk about. We just had regular lives. It was times like these, with the Time Keepers, that made me crave adventure. Sadly, the only "adventures" I had so far was the trip to Kalasia. But those three Reapers who tried to kill me, or whatever they were trying to do, that counted as an adventure, right?

"What's it like? Being as free as a bird?" Zelda asked me.

I was thrown off guard by her question. "Um... it's okay, I guess. Not as exciting as I had hoped, but I guess my adventure hasn't found me yet."

"You're always looking for adventure, huh?" she laughed.

"It's too boring when there's nothing to do. It's not fun when your life is on the line, but I like being able to journey to places, finding new things and new cities to explore."

"Lucky. I'm trapped in a castle all day. When I get older, I want to go discover new places. I've always wanted to travel to other kingdoms, to see what their customs, languages and traditions are."

"Then, I'll take you to Kalasia someday," I offered. "When we're older, I'll take you there, and introduce you to Princess Kurenai Kai and her brother, Matsuda Kai."

"You'll take me there?" Zelda asked.

"Promise. Their kingdom is a sight to behold. It's kind of hard to explain, but its almost what I'd picture the land of the Goddesses to look like."

"That sounds amazing. I can't wait to go there with you."

I smiled at her, and put my hands in my pockets. The moon was already halfway in the sky, and dogs were roaming the streets, as usual. Things hadn't changed much here, even after three whole years. Zelda hadn't changed much either: she was still the happy, energetic princess that I knew as a ten year old. And she was always striving for freedom.

"So what do you plan on doing next?" Zelda finally asked.

"I have to find the Mirror Sanctuary in this world. Do you happen to know where it is?"

"There are three Mirror Sanctuaries in Hyrule. One is out in the Gerudo Desert, in the Haunted Wastelands. The second is near Lake Hylia. The third one is the Temple of Time itself."

"The Temple of Time... could you show me the Mirror sometime?"

"Sure thing." She smiled and lowered her head. "It sure is hot outside, and it's nighttime too."

"I know, weird huh?" I continued to walk, and I jumped over a mud puddle that was on the brick ground. I clenched my hands into fists.

I grabbed Zelda's arm and pushed her to my right side.

"Stay on this side...," I hissed to her.

"What? What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

I held my finger to my mouth, signaling to her to be quiet. She shut her mouth. I stopped walking, and pulled Zelda to a halt by her arm. I released her arm, and reached for one of the kunais in my holster. I readied it in my right hand, but kept it hidden under my palm.

I quickly spun around, catching the arm of a Reaper. I swung the creature to the ground, and threw a shuriken at him. It stuck into his shoulder. It was the guy with the robot arm. He scowled and wiped his face. He stood up from the ground.

"Dammit! You idiot! How the hell did you see past my Water Illusion?" he asked me. He pulled the shuriken from his shoulder, the iron stained with blood.

"I may be an idiot...," I mumbled. "But I'm not that stupid! There hasn't been a drop of rain in Hyrule for days now! So why the hell would there be a puddle on the ground? You really need to think things through better."

"You got some nerve, talking like that, you little brat!" he screamed, and thrust his mechanical arm at me. I pushed Zelda out of the way, and dodged the claws at the end of his robot fingers.

"Too slow!" I yelled, and slashed my kunai against the metal. All that was inflicted on the metal was a thin scratch.

"Weakling!" he hissed, and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me forward, and kicked me hard in the chest. I fell backwards onto the ground. He stuck his foot against my torso, pushing me into the asphalt and brick. I could feel pain surging through my spine and body. I could hear Zelda screaming. Eventually, my head was hit so hard against the pavement that my vision began to blur. I could barely see what was happening above me. My hearing became fuzzy, and all I could hear was the muffled sound of the Reaper's foot pounding against me, and Zelda's screams. Was she alright? I began to cough up blood.

I eventually just started to wait.

Waiting for anything, for someone to come and save us, or for me to fight back. But I couldn't. I could feel my blood escaping me, and I was too weak to move anything. My arms were trapped inside the pavement, as were my legs and neck. I felt like all my bones were broken. Then I heard more screams. Zelda's and the Reaper's.

I tried to open my eyes, but when I did, I only saw a blurry vision of black and white. I could hear a soothing voice too. It was Zelda's. But it wasn't Zelda looking down at me from above the hole my body was trapped in. I tried to make out the image, but it was still too blurry for me to make out.

"Is he... all right?" I heard a voice say. It was definitely Zelda's voice.

"He'll be fine. He just needs a bit of rest, and time to heal. I fixed up all his major wounds, the rest are scratches and bruises that will heal on their own." Who's voice was that? It sounded so familiar...

I felt my body being lifted.

"I'll take him back to the castle for you, okay?" I heard the voice say. "Stay close to me, and follow me back to the castle."

"But wait, a person like you isn't allowed entrance to our castle," Zelda said.

"Leave that to me." I felt my hat being taken off my head. "There! Can't tell the difference, can you?"

"Actually, I can tell a huge difference. And how are we going to explain _this_ one to the guards? You're carrying a nearly-unconscious body. And you're carrying _Link's_ body at that. You can't pretend to be him if you're carrying him around."

The guy who was carrying me sighed. "You just had to make things more complicated, huh?" What in Goddesses' name was going on? Who was carrying me?

"So do you have a different plan?" Zelda asked him.

The man was silent, and then he snapped his fingers. "I got an idea! Zelda, I want you to head back to the castle, and then I want you to distract Impa. Take her to your room, or any other room besides Link's. Tell her that Link will be back soon, and that he just had to finish a few things. Meanwhile, I'll open a shadow portal, and I'll transport his body back into his room. Distract Impa for a while, just to make it look like Link came back while you were talking to her."

"That's pretty good thinking. It just might work."

"I get my thinking from Link." He began to walk.

"You know, Link seemed really suspicious about you, but you're not such a bad guy."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Princess. As much as I want to kill this kid, I can't. If he dies, so do I."

"What do you want with Link anyways? Is it revenge?"

"All Link ever uses is the power of light. Everybody has a dark side, even you, Princess. I'm an _awakened_ shadow though, one that is able to interact on its own. I consider myself lucky, but my power is also limited. If I want to release it all, I need this little guy here. But he never turns to the darkness inside of him. Only the light. The Deity. And when he _did _use the light, it was with a mask, and not all the powers were released. I want my strength to be freed. The only way I can awaken the darkness inside of Link's heart is to threaten him with the powers I currently have. If his life is threatened, he'll use my power for sure."

Now I knew who it was.

It was Dex.

"I can understand your desire for power," Zelda said. "But you mustn't let your will for revenge against the Deity overtake you. The way I see it, you have a heart all your own. And if you let hatred and revenge fill it, you will become blind of your true meaning. Your purpose is to be the evil side of Link, as his dark side. And I can guarantee you that you and I will soon become enemies. Because we live on different sides of the coin of light and darkness."

"You haven't changed a bit, Zelda. You're still the same from the time I was first released. You can be childish at times, and yet very wise."

"When were you first released?"

"The Water Temple, on Link's journey to stop Ganondorf. He was... an adult then. That's why I look more like the adult than the young. The Deity is one guy I don't understand. He was first released when Link was a child, so why does he look like an adult?"

"Maybe it's because... the Deity is a small part of you too?"

"Maybe. But we can't live in harmony, that's for sure. We're too different." He stopped walking. "We're at the castle. Ready for our plan?"

"I'm ready. So, what should I call you by?" Zelda asked.

"It's... Dex," he replied.

"Hm, that's a different sort of name, but it was a pleasure meeting you, Dex. I'm hoping to see you again soon."

"I don't think that will be anytime soon," he mumbled.

"Why not?"

"I have to lay low for a while. I'm not on the Reapers' side, but they'll probably come after me after they hear what I did to Mikumo. I'll probably end up staying at the Mirror Sanctuary in the Dark Realm. That's the last place they'll look. I probably won't see you or Link for a long time."

"I see. Then, goodbye for now, Dex Nohansen Hyrule."

I could hear the sound of running feet. Zelda was leaving for the castle. Dex remained still, then he began talking to himself.

"It's been a while, huh? Since you've had an adventure like this? I guess it might be a little out of your league, but you _are _the Hero of Time." I felt a sharp poke on my forehead. "Wake up, kiddo, I know you're not really unconscious. Open your eyes." I opened them slightly, but the vision was still blurry. I blinked a few times, and then the image became clearer. I saw Dex's face, blood running down the side of his jaw, and a thin cut across his nose. His expression seemed more concerned.

"What happened to you?" I tried to ask, my throat dry and sore.

"I had a bit of a fight with Mikumo of the Reapers. No big deal though. But I don't think you're in any position to ask me that question. You had quit a few shattered bones, you're lucky I was able to fix them. You might be a bit sore when you sleep tonight. Get some training in tomorrow, if you can, and whatever you do, avoid leaving the castle. You're not the best fighter."

"I have skills with the sword. It's just speed and hand to hand that I have trouble with."

"I say it'll take you four years at most to learn all the skills you need to become as strong as you desire. Maybe longer. It depends on how often you train, and how much work you put into it."

"Four years, huh? At this point, I don't really care how long it takes, as long as I can get back at that Mikumo guy for smashing my head into the ground." I laughed.

"I'll give you some info about the Society then, considering you're so determined. There are a total of six in command at the Society. The leader is Iwata Hashimoto, and he's also the strongest. The next is Jun Kaniji. Mikumo is the third. I don't remember the rest of the names, but the fourth is another guy, and the fifth and sixth are these girls who happen to be twin sisters. Watch out for the girls, they're pretty demented creatures."

"Why are you looking out for me like this?" I asked him.

"You kidding? You'd probably do the same thing for me, because you're too soft. But you and I are the same person, pretty much. I can't let you die, because if that happens, I'm in for death too. But Link, the next time you and I battle, I won't go easy on you. So you'd better be ready."

"I will. I'll become stronger, no matter what. And I'll defeat you someday."

"That's the Link I know." Dex looked at the castle. "By the way, how's Zelda doing? You two seem to be getting along real well."

"She's... good. The same as always," I muttered.

"Take good care of her for me, alright?" he asked. What a strange question.

"Uh... sure."

Dex waved his hand in the air, and a shadow portal formed against a brick wall. He stepped through it, and he walked through darkness, until we were in my room at the castle. Impa was nowhere to be seen. Dex set me down on my bed, and then he made his way to the window. He sat on his toes on the windowsill.

"We're not going to see each other again for a while, you know," he mumbled.

"Yeah," I replied, and sat up in my bed. My back began to hurt.

"From now on, we're enemies. The next time we meet, you had better be stronger." His body began to disintegrate into twilight, and the twilight bits floated up to the sky. I pulled myself back into my bed, and wrapped the blanket around my body.

The war between me and Dex was on.


	15. Sudoku Puzzles

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 15: Sudoku Puzzles**

I tried to sit up for the fifth time that morning, but the attempt was only greeted by a sharp pain in my back. Zelda had been watching over me ever since I got back, and every time I tried to sit up, she'd run over to my bed to help me. I felt terrible. Every bone in my body, especially my back, ached. My arms felt heavy, almost as heavy as my head felt. The entire morning my head had been suffering from an intense headache, the pounding from my brain ringing through my ears like a drum. I felt like my entire insides were going to explode. I was starving, but every time I tried to eat something, I couldn't keep it down, and even at that, the food didn't even have any taste, no matter what I tried to eat. Miu slept at my pillow, and she would lick my face whenever I groaned from the pain in my back. That was the worst pain of all. I felt like my spine was shattered into a million pieces, like broken glass. I wanted to get up, so I could do something, like train, or read in the library, _anything_.

"You'll feel better soon, don't worry," Zelda said in a soothing voice. She carefully lifted my head, and propped it up on a pillow. She handed me a book. "Here, in case you get bored."

"Too late for that," I chuckled. "What is it?"

She handed me a pen. "Ever play sudoku?"

"No. What is it?"

She pulled up a chair and sat next to my bed, and she told me how to play. I found it confusing at first, and asked her a few questions to get the rules straight, but then as she spoke about it, I began to understand. She did a practice game with me to show me a better example. After that, we began doing more puzzles from the book. It was fun, sitting with Zelda and solving sudoku puzzles. I often made mistakes, but then she would point out the real answer to me, and eventually, as the puzzles got harder, I began to help her. Before we realized it, we had solved ten puzzles in less than two hours. And as we continued to play, the hours began to fly by, and we had finished half of the book.

"Holy cow, these puzzles are getting hard!" I laughed.

"I'm trying to figure out where the seven goes! It won't fit anywhere!" Zelda giggled.

"It goes right here." I took the pen and wrote the number seven in the number box. "See?"

"Hey, you're getting pretty good at this."

I handed the book to her, and attempted to sit up again. The pain wasn't as bad now, and I could sit up without my spine feeling like broken glass.

"Do you feel better now?" Zelda asked me.

"Yeah, I'm a bit better. But Zelda, if you don't mind, can we keep playing sudoku? This game is pretty fun!"

She smiled and nodded. "I'd love to."

I set my head back down on the pillow, and Zelda handed me the book. I opened it back to our previous puzzle, and I took the pen. We continued our puzzle, putting aside all of our troubles, just to fill our minds with the challenge of figuring out where the numbers one to nine would go in a box. As we played, we started to write notes where each number could possibly go, putting in small numbers in the corners of the boxes. As I joke, I wrote the number two right on Zelda's hand while she was looking at the puzzle. She gave me an angry look.

"What?" I laughed. "I have no more room to put it on the paper!"

She still looked angry, but then she laughed. "Alright, then..." She grabbed the pen from my hand and wrote the number five on my arm. "Oops. Sorry. No more room," she said sarcastically. Really, I wasn't lying. There were numbers scattered all over the page, and I literally had no room to put anymore numbers on as notes.

As we went through the puzzle, we copied numbers onto each other's arms and hands, until are arms were covered in numbers. When we looked at each other, all we could do was laugh. There was more ink on _us_ then there was on the puzzle!

Zelda stood up from her chair. "I'm going to go get a facecloth to wash this ink off our arms," she said. "Keep the writing on the paper while I'm gone!" She walked out the door, and closed it.

I began writing in numbers on the puzzle, and then I figured a bit of it out. I never realized these puzzles were so fun! I wanted to go out and train, but not as much as I wanted to spend some time with Zelda. She had grown up so much. She looked so much older, and she acted a bit different too. Her bangs were always either over her eyes, or tied up with bandages over the side, so that they hung at the side of her face. She was taller now too. She was about my height now, and I was tall for my age. And she seemed more courageous than usual. She talked differently too. She always seemed to make sarcastic remarks whenever she was joking around. She seemed... braver too.

The door opened, and Zelda walked in, wiping a wet facecloth up her arm, trying to get the ink off. She threw an extra cloth to me. I caught it and began cleaning the ink off. It took a while, but I managed to get it off. My arm was red by the time I was finished wiping. So was Zelda's.

"Let's not do that again," Zelda laughed. "Did you figure out anymore of that puzzle?"

"Sure did. I only have a few more boxes to fill in," I replied. Zelda sat back down next to me, and she pointed to a box.

"Six goes there," she said. I filled it in. "And nine goes there." I followed her directions, until we finished the puzzle.

"About time we finished it," I chuckled. "That one was way too long!" I stretched my arms out, yawned, and passed the book and pen to Zelda. "Blah, I'm done. I like sudoku, but I think my brain is fried." Zelda giggled and grabbed the book and pen from my hands. I sat up, the pain now gone from my back.

"Do you think you can eat now?" Zelda asked me.

I had forgotten that I was starving to death. "I think so."

She left the room, and then came back in with a tray. On the tray was a sandwich, a glass of milk, and a ripe apple. She set the tray on the bedside table. I reached for the apple, and took a bite. I could actually keep it down! And it had _taste_! I slowly ate the apple, savoring each bite as if it were my last.

"Well, eat up, you need to get your strength back," Zelda said.

When I was finished with the apple, I threw the core into the trash. Then I grabbed the sandwich and began eating it too. It was tuna. Even though I disliked it, I ate it anyways. I was too hungry to care what it tasted like, as long as I got it down. I drank the milk with it, and I wiped my face with my arm.

"Do you feel better?" Zelda asked.

"Much better. Thanks for looking after me." I stood up from my bed and made my way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

I flipped a kunai through my fingers. "I have... some serious training to do."

I stood across from the archery targets, three kunais equipped in my hands. Zelda sat against the wall of the castle, watching me. Multiple other targets were set up next to each other, where the guards practiced with their bow and arrows. In another area of the training grounds, guards trained with their sword skills.

I aimed the kunais at the target, and flung them. They soared through the air, but only two of them hit the target. The other landed in the ground before it got to the target. I walked up to the target board and pulled the kunais out, and then I grabbed the kunai that was in the ground. I went back to the throwing point, which was marked in the ground with a red line. Zelda smiled at me as I walked back, and she watched as I pulled out my windmill shuriken. I folded it out, and then threw it at the target. It zoomed as quiet as the wind towards the target, and hit the bulls-eye. Zelda clapped from behind me, and I went and pulled the windmill shuriken from the board.

After I was finished training, multiple shurikens and kunais were stuck in the ground and the target board. I cleaned them all of, and put them back into my holsters. I wanted to practice hand to hand combat, but who would I get to train with me?

Miu jumped up on my shoulder, and then from her body a puff of white smoke exploded. When the smoke left, all that was left was a human-sized Yashiro Takahashi, standing right in front of me. Miu must have known Yashiro for so long, that she didn't need to be with the person to mimic them. She held her fists at me. Did she inherit Yashiro's abilities too? Only one way to find out. I made the same fighting stance, and I nodded for her to begin to fight. Miu swung her fists at me, and I dodged them, and then punched her hard in the stomach. She pulled back, and then swung again. I grabbed her fist this time, but then she punched me with her other hand. Now, if it really _was _Yashiro, I probably would have went flying into the brick wall by now. But I didn't. Thank the Goddess Din that Miu could only mimic appearances and not abilities. She hit me right in the face, which caught me off guard, but then I wiped my mouth, and began to fight again. We kept punching and kicking at each other, making sure that our attacks were strong and fast. By the time Miu and I were finished training, we were all covered in bruises, blood, and dirt.

Miu turned back to her normal form, and she jumped up to my shoulder. I wiped the blood and dirt from my face. Zelda walked up to me with a worried look on her face.

"Link, you should finish your training for today, and get some rest," she offered. "You look tired."

I stroked Miu's head with my hand. "I can't stop yet. I still have some stuff I need to finish." Miu jumped off my shoulder, and transformed again, but this time she turned into Uzuki. I wanted to practice my speed.

"I'll be done soon, so just wait a while longer," I said to Zelda. "Why are you even watching me anyways? You can go do something else if you want."

"No, it's fine. I have nothing better to do."

"Are you sure?" I asked, unsure of whether she was speaking in a bored tone or not.

"I'm sure." She walked back to her chair and sat down.

I turned back to Miu. She made her fighting stance, which was different from Yashiro's, and then she began to swing her palms at me. I dodged her hands, trying not to get hit. I knew that if I got hit by her, I would immediately be knocked out. That was Uzuki's style of fighting. Eventually, as I continued to dodge, I began to get tired, and my movements got sloppier. Miu shot her hand at me again, but I was too tired, and I ended up getting hit right on the neck. My vision blurred a bit, but then a shook my head, and began to fight again. Miu dodged my fist, and then slammed her palms hard into my chest. I fell back, and landed on the ground. Miu transformed back into her cat form, and Zelda came running up to me.

"Link!" she yelled. "Are you alright?"

I coughed, and blinked. "I'm fine... but I think my heart skipped a beat when Miu hit me in the chest..."

Zelda grabbed my arm and pulled me up. "It all comes from working too hard. Come on, you're coming inside with me, whether you like it or not." I could barely move from that strike, so she put my arm over her shoulder, and carried me inside the castle, while I leaned on her back and took slow steps. She walked me up the stairs, and then took me to my room.

I sat down on the bed, trying to ease the numb pain from my chest. Miu followed me, and jumped up onto my bed. She purred and rubbed her furry body against my side. I pulled the blue crystal off Miu's collar. The blue screen reappeared, with Shuto facing the screen.

"Hey Shuto," I greeted. Zelda sat next to me, and looked through the screen with me.

"Hey Link," he replied. "Any chance of getting you back in the Dark Realm soon? Things are getting kinda strange around here."

"Like what?"

"There are more monsters around, and some local Reapers have been disappearing, literally going _poof_."

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. By the way Link, we received a mission a few hours ago, and we were wondering if you want to help us out with it. The people we're sending are you, Yashiro, and me."

"What's the mission?" I asked curiously. The way the Time Keepers did things was interesting.

"There have been sightings of strange monsters around Death Mountain. The Gorons are alright, but these monsters are threatening their way of life."

"Dodongos?"

"No, they look more like monsters you'd find in the Dark Realm. They're covered in twilight markings, and they come out a lot at night, and sometimes at dawn. There are also a few reports of Gorons _disappearing_. Like the Reapers have been disappearing."

"I'll get to Kakariko right away then," I said.

"Good. Yashiro and I will meet up with you there." The screen turned off.

I stood up from the bed, and grabbed my bag. I took the bandages out and wrapped some around my arm, where it was bleeding the worst. I looked at Zelda. She looked upset.

"You're going on the mission, aren't you?" she asked me.

"Afraid so. The Gorons are important to me, and if they're disappearing, I want to know what's up. Besides, Shuto and Yashiro are counting on me."

She smiled. "I guess I'll see you again sometime."

"It's a promise," I said. I walked up to her, and hugged her tight. She hugged me back.

"Just don't get hurt, okay?" she said as she released herself from my arms.

"After my mission, I'll come back to see you, in one piece. Okay?"

"Okay."

I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder. Miu was already inside, sleeping as she always did. I made sure I had all my shurikens in my holsters, and then I made my way to the door. I opened it, and stepped out into the throne room. I turned to Zelda, and smiled.

"See you later, Zelda," I said.

"Goodbye, Link," she said in a soft voice. She remained sitting on the bed as I closed the door.

I walked through the dirt streets of Kakariko Village, the sun shining over the roofs of the houses and windmills. The place hadn't changed a bit, and neither had the people. Of course, this village was really small, and hardly anyone lived here. It was out in the country, even if it was only a few miles from Hyrule Castle. But I remembered what it looked like when I was an adult. There were children everywhere, and the place was really alive. That was when Ganondorf had turned Hyrule into a wasteland. When the market in the city was populated by ReDeads. That was before I was sent back through time by Zelda, so I could relive my childhood.

Much to my expense.

Things were still peaceful here, and as usual, as boring as ever. The carpenters had finally finished the archery building they had been working on for so long, but what was the point anyways? Nobody in Kakariko could use a bow, nobody that I knew of. I decided to try my luck, and I headed inside the building. It was actually built really well on the inside. There was a sign-up counter to my right, and to my left was a music player playing fun carnival music. Ahead of me was a wall with designs of clouds and cuccoos painted on it. There was a counter in front of it, and in between the wall and the counter, was where ten multicolored rupees sat.

I turned to the man at the sign-up counter. "How much for one game?" I asked him.

"Ten rupees," he grunted. He handed me a bow, and ten arrows. I gave him a yellow rupee. "Know how to play?"

"Yeah, you hit as many rupees as you can, right?"

"Whatever, just try it." I headed towards the shooting area, and stood at the counter.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and a girl charged into the store. She had blond hair that was wound in pigtails, and she wore a black shirt, with a black skirt that hung to her knees. She looked about Mitsuhiro's age. She pounded the table with her fist, and she set a yellow rupee on the counter.

"Hand me a bow!" she ordered. The man didn't hesitate to hand her the bow and the arrows. She grabbed them, walked up to the shooting counter, and pushed me out of the way.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Outta my way, Fairy Boy!" she yelled back. She glared at me. Her eyes looked evil. I backed up. "Put it on Hard!" she yelled at the man. Somebody had anger issues.

"Um, are you sure?" he asked. "Not even the Gerudos can handle Hard-"

"I said Hard!"

The man groaned and pressed a button on the control panel behind the counter. The rupees behind the shooting counter began moving at high speeds, and the girl took aim, with three arrows in the bow. She waited a few seconds, and then she released the arrows, sending them flying at the rupees. She grinned an evil grin, as the arrows zoomed into three of the rupees. Then I realized her strategy. Each rupee had another one moving behind it. She had managed to aim it so precisely that when she hit the first three, the arrows would go through the ones in the back. All the rupees shattered.

"Uh, wow, great job!" the man cheered.

The girl smiled and walked to the man. She handed him the bow and arrows. "So, what's the prize?" she said sweetly.

"For defeating Hard, five hundred rupees." He handed her a sack filled with rupees.

She shrugged and groaned. "That's it? I get more than that for one _easy_ mission. But I guess it'll do." She took the bag, and smiled at me. She came up to me, and looked me in the eyes. She had to bend down to be eye-to-eye.

"What?" I asked. Her expression seemed sweeter, and less angry. It had only taken a mere second for her emotions to change. She was wearing pink lipstick. I noticed that the colors of her eyes were a bright brown... almost like they were red.

"Sorry, you just remind me of someone." She stood up straight again, and giggled. Then she turned to the door and left. That girl was strange.

"Hey, buddy, you still want to try it out?" the man asked.

"Yeah, sure, and keep it on Hard."

"If you say so." He hit the button again, and new rupees sprang up and began moving at fast speeds.

I hit two.

"Link, would you hurry it up?" Yashiro yelled at me from above.

"I'm sorry!" I whined. "It's not easy!" True, scaling the side of Death Mountain was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. Yashiro and Shuto were both ahead of me, yelling at me to hurry up. They were wearing their robes, and they kept their hoods over their faces. They said they couldn't take it off, otherwise the light would get to them. They were like fairies who traveled to the Dark Realm: their powers were weakened when they were on the opposite side of their own world.

Shuto groaned at me. "Just walk up! You have magic power left, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm not taking any chances of falling all the way up here! I'll stick with my hands and feet, thank you!"

Shuto slid down the mountain, and grabbed my hand. He lifted me up onto his back, and began running up the mountain, until he caught up with Yashiro.

"How much farther do you think it is?" he asked Yashiro.

"We'll be there soon, just wait," she mumbled. "The monster has been mostly sighted inside of the Death Mountain Craters, so we have to be prepared to be fighting against fire. You have your fire charm ready, right?"

Shuto held up a red necklace from his neck. "Check."

"Wait, what about me?" I asked. "My red tunic only fits adults!" I didn't want to be burned to a crisp on my first mission as a Time Keeper.

Shuto handed me a red necklace. "Here. It'll protect you from the heat. Tie it around your neck." I did as I was told, and tied the necklace string around my neck. The red jewel on the string began to glow a deep red, and then it stopped.

"That should protect you until we finish the mission," Yashiro predicted, as she continued to walk up the mountain. "What do you think the monster is anyways?"

"Probably nothing too big. If it was worse, Mitsuhiro would have been assigned to this mission," Shuto replied.

"It could be Volvagia," I suggested. "I fought that dragon when I was an adult, but because I was sent back through time, it never really was defeated."

"But this monster has twilight markings on it, which means it came from the Dark Realm," Yashiro argued. "And based on what Uzuki has told me, Volvagia was resurrected by Ganondorf. Ganondorf is gone... for now."

"Don't start thinking about that, Yashiro!" Shuto groaned. "Ganondorf isn't going to be resurrected! The Dark Realm may have more technology than Hyrule, but I've never heard of people getting resurrected!" I knew he was just trying to make me feel better. "Let's just finish this mission, and get back home!"

"Whatever," Yashiro muttered. As we climbed, we finally reached a large ridge in the mountain. Against the wall, there were two doors. I had been here before, and I knew that the door on the right was a Fairy Fountain.

"We have to go through the left door," I told them. "I've been here before."

"Alright, then let's go kick some butt!" Yashiro cheered. She charged into the mountain, leaving me and Shuto behind. Her body immediately disappeared into the darkness.

The next thing we heard was a loud scream.

It was Yashiro.


	16. King Dodongo Revived

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 16: King Dodongo Revived**

I sprinted inside the Death Mountain cave, Shuto following close behind me. It was dark inside, and extremely hot, but thanks to the necklace the Reapers had given me, the burning feeling was reduced to a minimum. I could still hear Yashiro's screams from deeper inside the cave. I made sure to look back every few seconds so that I was sure Shuto was still okay.

"Do you see Yashiro yet?" Shuto screamed. He didn't have to yell so loud, I was right in front of him.

"No, I don't!" I yelled back. Yashiro didn't go in this far, did she? Shuto and I continued to follow the sounds of her screams.

Shuto grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me to the ground. "We'll never find her if we just continue to run like this!" he hissed at me. He bent down, and placed his hand against the ground. "Please, be quiet." I became silent, and he closed his eyes. It was so quiet, the only thing I could hear was the screams, and Shuto's breathing from under his cloak hood. After a few seconds, he lifted his hand back up, and opened his eyes. He pointed to the right. "She's over there. Follow me," he ordered, and picked me up from the ground. He turned to the right, and ran, pulling me behind him by my arm. He pulled out his flute from the inside of his robe.

We ran for a while, the screams getting louder, until Shuto pulled me to a stop. We were in a huge room now, and the only light was from a crack in the ceiling. Shuto held up his flute at the light, and it reflected off its silver metal. It was almost like my Mirror Shield. He moved his flute, angling the light at different areas of the room. I could see pits of lava in the ground, and a river of lava surrounding the floor. I could still hear Yashiro screaming. She was definitely in here, but where? Shuto shined the light around the room, still trying to locate her.

"I'm over here, you idiots!"

I looked to the right to see a design of a Dodongo embedded on the wall. Suddenly the stone began to move, and a huge black Dodongo emerged from the wall. And there was Yashiro, crushed under its claws, but still alive. There were twilight markings on the monster. It was the King Dodongo, the same monster that had been tormenting the Gorons on my journey for the Spiritual Stones. And, like Queen Gohma, it looked revived. Shuto and I jumped back, and ran to the other side of the room, careful not to fall in the lava pits, or the river around the floor. The Dodongo gave a huge roar, and then tossed Yashiro across the room to us. She immediately reacted, and flipped onto her feet as she landed on the floor.

"Are you okay Yashiro?" Shuto asked her.

"I feel a bit squished, but I'll be fine... other than that, what the hell took you guys so long?" she screamed at him.

"Hey, be lucky we came at all!" Shuto yelled back.

"Guys! Can we quite fighting with each other and fight the big Dodongo over here? I can't take care of this thing by myself!" I screamed. Yashiro and Shuto both nodded at me, and removed their hoods. It was dark in here, so they could use their powers without fear of the light.

"Link! You've fought this thing before, right?" Yashiro asked me. "How do we kill it?"

"Bombs," I replied. "It will open its mouth, and when that happens, throw some bombs in its mouth!"

"Crap, we don't have bombs!" Shuto panicked. "Will explosion seals work?" He pulled out a red sheet of paper. It was cut like a narrow rectangle, and it almost looked like a card. There were strange writings on it. "It has the same effects as a bomb."

"As long as it goes 'boom' or 'bang', it should work," I said sarcastically. "We just need to get the monster to open its mouth."

Shuto grinned and pulled out two more pieces of paper. "Yashiro, think you can get the monster's mouth open?"

"Whatever," she grumbled, and charged at the monster, her fist ready. She leaped into the air, and punched the monster hard on its head. The Dodongo flew into the wall, and landed in the lava. "See?" Yashiro said. "What's the point in creating a plan, when you can just attack it straight-on?" She gave Shuto a look of disgust.

We waited for a few moments, all of us sure the Dodongo was dead, but then suddenly, the monster burst out from the lava, roaring in anger. It crawled out from the lava, and began trudging towards us, its steps so heavy it felt like there was an earthquake every time it moved.

"Dammit! I was sure that would work!" Yashiro muttered in frustation. "Fine then! We'll use your plan, Link." She ran out to the monster, and then it sighted her. The Dodongo rolled up into a ball, and then it began to roll after her as she ran away. The monster rolled behind her, and then she made a sharp turn. The Dodongo didn't react fast enough, and rolled into the wall. It unrolled itself, and opened its mouth at her, forming a ball of flames inside its throat. "Now!" Yashiro screamed at us.

Shuto ran out to her and threw one of the red cards into the monster's mouth. As the card hit the flames, it exploded, sending a shock wave through the Dodongo's body. It fell to the ground.

"Hurry Link!" Shuto yelled. "I see its weak spot! Attack it with your sword!" I obeyed him, and ran at the monster with my sword. I could see a crack on its belly. I jumped at it, and struck the crack. The monster screamed, and jumped back to its feet.

Shuto swung his flute across his arm, and then brought it to his lips. "Guys! Plug your ears!" he warned. I placed my hands tightly over my ears, and so did Yashiro. She backed up, so I decided to follow her actions. Shuto blew into the mouthpiece, and a shrill melody burst from the instrument. It was extremely loud, loud enough to get through my hands and into my head. The sound hurt like hell, almost like I had a thousand needles piercing into my brain. And I could _see_ the sound waves coming out of it. The waves hit the Dodongo, and it opened its mouth again, ready to attack Shuto.

Shuto pulled the flute away from his mouth, stopping the horrible sound. "Yashiro! Now!" he yelled. Yashiro was in front of him. She bent down. He ran up to her, and jumped off her back and into the air. He took a second fire card, and threw it into the mouth of the Dodongo. Once again, it exploded on contact with the flames inside of the monster, and it fell to the ground. Shuto gently landed back on his feet. I charged at the Dodongo and attacked it. It didn't get up, so I took it as an advantage to hit it again. But this time, I charged my magic into my blade, and spun it at the monster, performing my strong Spin Attack. My sword sliced against the crack in its belly multiple times, until I had to stop spinning to prevent myself from getting too dizzy. I backed up from the Dodongo, and it stood up. It gave another roar, and then attempted to approach us, but it fell to the ground before it had a chance.

We all watched as the great Dodongo King died, and then turned into twilight, disintegrating into the darkness of the cave.

"Now that's what I call teamwork!" Shuto cheered.

"Dude, that thing was easy, calm down," Yashiro muttered. She pulled out a blue jewel, one that was similar to the one on Miu's collar. Speaking of Miu... was she still in my bag? She was awfully quiet, considering we just fought a huge Dodongo.

A blue static field opened from the jewel. Uzuki was on the other end.

"Hey, Uzuki, we finished the mission," Yashiro said. "What's the reward this time?"

"How should I know?" Uzuki asked. "You'll have to ask the Gorons. Tell them that Link was the one who defeated the Dodongo, we don't want to cause a disturbance in this world. After you're finished with that, meet me in Kakariko. I'll explain the information Mitsuhiro and I have gathered so far."

"You and your information," Yashiro laughed. "Always have to plan ahead, huh?"

"This is an important situation, so yes, I do have to plan ahead in this case. Anyways, have Link speak to the head Goron, Darunia, and then come down to the big windmill in Kakariko, alright? See you then."

The screen turned off, and Yashiro put the crystal back into her cloak pocket. She pulled the hood over her face. "You heard her," Yashiro said to Shuto. "Looks like we gotta lay low until Link finishes with that Darunia guy." Shuto pulled his hood up as well.

"Hurry up and talk to Darunia, Link," Yashiro urged. "I don't want to stay here for long."

The next thing I felt was my body being crushed under the arms of Darunia, the head Brother of the Gorons.

"Um... Darunia," I coughed, trying to take in as much air as I could possibly get.

"Thank you so much for saving my brothers from the wrath of the Dodongo King!" he bellowed, and squeezed me even tighter. That was the problem with Gorons... they didn't know their own strength. I gasped for air.

"Darunia! You're squishing me! Let go!" He released me from his rock arms, and I fell to the floor, taking deep breaths for air. I looked up at him. "Listen, it's great that you're happy I'm back, but please, try not to hug me so tight, okay? I'm a kid again, you can't hug me like you used to. Either way, whether I'm an adult or a kid, loosen the arms a little."

Darunia smiled. "Sorry, Brother, but it's been so long!" As I stood up from the floor, he whacked me on the back in encouragement, knocking me to the floor again. I stood up again.

"Darunia, I wanted to talk to you about the monster I encountered in the Death Mountain Craters. It was the King Dodongo, the same one that I destroyed for you guys when I wanted the Spiritual Stone, the Goron's Ruby," I explained, hoping that Darunia wouldn't hit me on the back again.

"Hmm, I see, then we should offer you a good reward for defeating it a second time," Darunia said. He began to tap his chin with his finger, remaining silent for a few moments. "I know! Brothers! Come here!" he yelled. "Let's all give our brother Link a big Goron hug!"

Crap, not again! I watched as a bunch of Gorons came walking towards me, their arms spread out, and their steps slow. They were _everywhere_, surrounding the entire room. This was like a horror movie I just couldn't get out of!

"Uh, Darunia," I stammered. "I _love_ your hugs, just as any other person, but I really need to go! I'll, uh, get a hug from you all later... _much later_." I tried to find an exit, but the entire room was surrounded by Gorons. Seriously, it was starting to creep me out. Suddenly, I heard a screech, and a black cloud flew into the room from the ceiling. It landed on the ground, and when the shadows dispersed, there was Yashiro in her black robe, her fists held up.

"You... took... too..._long!_" she screamed at me, and grabbed me by my waist. The shadows formed again, and she took off into the sky. I watched as the Gorons below looked up at us, all of them confused and disappointed... probably because they couldn't strangle, I mean, _hug, _their favorite brother. Yashiro carried me through the sky, and then landed on the mountain trail that led to the city. She set me down.

"So, where's the reward?" she asked curiously, rubbing her hands together. She had a devious look in her eyes.

"I have to thank you for that, Yashiro," I sighed. "You saved me from my _reward_."

A blank look crossed her face. Then she looked ecstatic. Then she looked mad. Then she looked _really_ pissed off. Shuto immediately jumped behind her, and grabbed her arms. She lunged at me, but was pulled back by Shuto.

"It was just a damn _hug_? What in Goddess' name kinda hellish, goddess forsaken prize is that? That's a freaking ripoff if you ask me! Why, I should go up to that Darunia bastard and punch his face in! Of all the lousy, inconsiderate, lowly, goddess forsaken things I've heard of, never have I heard of such a-" She started to swear like there was no tomorrow. She continued this for the next three minutes.

"Yashiro! Watch your mouth!" Shuto yelled. But she continued to curse, some words which I didn't even know existed, or words that I wondered were even _legal_. She looked like she wanted to punch me in the face. She kept swearing for the next five minutes, and when she was done, she began taking deep breaths, regaining the air she lost from yelling so much.

"Okay, are you done?" Shuto asked her.

"Please, I got another page to go," she muttered.

"I'll make it up to you then. While we're in Kakariko, I'll see if they sell some quesadilla chips."

"Um," I cut in. "I don't think they sell those there." I shouldn't have said that.

Yashiro became extremely angry, and she began to curse again. Shuto kicked her in the back.

"Would you stop it?" he yelled. "We're supposed to be meeting up with Uzuki in Kakariko! You can swear all you want when we get back to the Dark Realm!" He released her arms.

"Fine," she growled, and crossed her arms. She began to walk down the mountain trail. "Come on! Hurry it up! The faster we go, the faster I get some of my quesadilla chips!" She began to run. Shuto and I ran after her.

When we reached the village, we saw Mitsuhiro standing against the lookout tower near the convenience store. He was cleaning his teeth out with a toothpick. He looked bored. His expression didn't change when he saw us either.

"Hey Yashiro, Shuto, Fairy Boy," he muttered in a bored tone. "How was the mission?"

"We succeeded, but we didn't get any freaking reward," Yashiro growled, and then opened her mouth, ready to swear.

"Aah!" Shuto yelled, and pointed at her. "Don't say anything!" She closed her mouth.

"If you're looking for Uzuki, she's inside the windmill," Mitsuhiro mumbled.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him sarcastically.

He sighed, and threw the toothpick to the ground. "I'm just... depressed. I can't use my Time Distortion powers in this world, not without any darkness."

"Why don't you wear it then?" I asked.

"Because I don't want to. I want to see what this world looks like. We Reapers don't _have_ to wear a robe in Hyrule, we just do it so we can be in darkness. Take off your hoods, Yashiro and Shuto, I want to see your faces."

They did as they were told, and removed their hoods. Shuto looked scared. I guess they weren't used to the light like Mitsuhiro was. Even Yashiro looked quite uneasy.

"Come on, we'll head to the windmill together," Mitsuhiro sighed, and shoved his hands in his pockets. He walked from the tower, and we followed him, across the dirt roads, past the houses, and past the old cursed well, until we reached the windmill. Mitsuhiro kept his hands in his pockets, and placed his foot on the door. He kicked it, and it slowly moved forward, its hinges squeaking. It was silent inside. We walked inside, not able to see a thing.

Suddenly, a burst of music exploded from a wall. I nearly jumped out my skin! Shuto screamed. Yashiro punched the wall, leaving a huge hole. We looked at her.

"What?" she groaned. "They're reflexes..." I stared at Mitsuhiro, to see that he hadn't changed his expression.

I looked around the room to find the source of the music. There sat Guru-Guru, playing the Song of Storms on his music box, the tune coming out from a huge trumpet-shaped bell. I heard a laugh, but it wasn't his. I looked to the center of the room to see Uzuki sitting on the spinning platform that moved the windmill, her body moving slowly in a circle.

"Alright Guru-Guru, I think you scared them enough," she laughed. "Keep playing, that music is brilliant."

"Uzuki! How could you?" Yashiro said.

"Sorry, I wanted to play a prank on all of you."

"Well, it sure worked!" I said in a panicked tone. I was still shaking in fear.

"Come, sit down," Uzuki offered. We all walked to the platform, and sat on it in front of Uzuki. Our bodies were slowly being taken around in a circle. "So Link, how was your first mission as a Time Keeper?" she asked me. I noticed that she was eating cake.

"Well, to settle things straight, the monster we fought was the King Dodongo, the same monster I fought for the Goron's Ruby. Like Queen Gohma, it was black, and had twilight markings all over its body. Once again, it looked revived."

"Based on what you're telling me, I can only predict that Jun and Iwata and the rest of their cronies are up to this. Let me put it this way: it's almost like they're telling us, "If we can resurrect the monsters Link previously defeated, then surely we can defeat the great King of Evil himself.". Based on this information, we can conclude that the Society plans on working their way up, resurrecting monsters until they get enough experience to resurrect a human being, or in this case, Ganondorf."

I sat with my knees up, and rested my head against them.

"So, they really do plan on resurrecting Ganondorf, huh?" I asked.

"Afraid so," Mitsuhiro said. "But as far as I know, resurrecting monsters takes several months. Resurrecting a human being could take years. It's like trying to clone someone. And also, it's going to take them a while before they can get your blood." He smirked.

"You think?" I asked.

"That's right!" Shuto said. "They won't get you! I promise!"

I smiled. "Thanks." I felt my bag move. Miu popped her head out, and meowed.

"Mr. Mew!" Shuto laughed, and grabbed the cat. "You're back! I'm so glad to see you again!" The cat licked his face.

"You never told me what the cat was," I muttered.

"Like I said, she's a protozoan. An evolved protozoan. She was created in a lab. However, she was a failure, and was cast out in the streets, so I took her in. She has a special evolution DNA inside of her though, and someday, she'll evolve into a human!"

I stared at him. "No, really, what is she?"

"Very funny," he muttered, and stuck his tongue at me. "She still has two more stages to go until she's a human. There are a total of three stages."

"She'll evolve soon," Yashiro yawned. "She's been in this stage for five years now!"

"Changing the subject," Uzuki interrupted. "We have to figure out what move the Reapers are going to pull off next. The third boss that Link fought on his adventures was Barricade, the killer jellyfish from inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly. Based on this, I can only assume that they are going to resurrect Barricade as a twilight monster. This is your next mission, Link. I want you to head to Zora's Domain. Find out if anything is amiss. Yashiro and I will be your teammates on this mission."

It was creepy how Uzuki knew so much about me. "Yeah, sure. I'll head out tomorrow. First, I gotta head back to Hyrule Castle and visit Zelda. She'll probably throw a fit if I don't see her soon."

Uzuki smiled at me, and then took a bite from her cake. I jumped off the wheel, followed by Mitsuhiro, Yashiro, and then Shuto.

I turned my gaze to Uzuki. "By the way, revenge is bittersweet." She gave me a confused look. I took out my ocarina and put it to my lips, and then I played the Song of Storms. Immediately, Guru-Guru got really upset, and began to play his music faster, and higher-pitched.

"Wait! What are you doing! You know what will happen if you-"

Suddenly, the platform began to move faster, until the only thing we could see was Uzuki moving in a blur, the spinning platform, and a _very_ upset Guru-Guru. I think I made him go berserk.

"Somebody stop this thing!" I heard Uzuki scream. We just left the windmill, leaving her to deal with the insane music player and the spinning platform.

"This is kinda mean," Mitsuhiro grumbled.

"She made me punch a freaking hole into the wall!" Yashiro yelled. "She knows everything about Hyrule, she should know how to get off the windmill."

"If you say so..."

I walked into Zelda's room, and she hugged me.

"Gee, Zelda, I haven't been gone that long," I said to her.

"I know, but I like to know that you're safe," she laughed.

I laughed, and released myself from her arms. "I have to go on another mission tomorrow, just to let you know. I'm only here for a visit."

She ran to her dresser, and opened it. She pulled out a book and a pen. She handed them to me. "Take this. It's a new sudoku book. I thought you might want it in case you got bored on your journey."

"Thanks Zelda," I said, and took the book. I put it in my bag. "I'm not going to be able to visit you as much anymore, though."

She smiled. "That's okay. You have a journey to go on. I know you'll do great."

"Thanks, Zelda."

As I left the castle, I began to think about her. I would miss her.

That was also the last time I would see her.


	17. Barinade's Revenge

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 17: Barinade's Revenge**

I screamed as I fell into the cold water. As I rose up from its depths, I held my fist at Yashiro.

"Hey! You're gonna pay for that!" I screamed at her. I climbed up from the water and onto the rocky cliff, where Yashiro and Uzuki stood. The moment we had arrived in Zora's Domain, Yashiro had taken the liberty of pushing me into the water, which also happened to be freezing cold, almost like ice.

"Come on, can't you take a joke?" Yashiro snickered. She jokingly punched my shoulder. It hurt.

"Hey! Hurry up you two!" Uzuki yelled, already ahead of us. She was carrying her sketchbook and her paintbrush and pencils. "Let's just get this mission over with as fast as we can!"

"Sorry," Yashiro laughed, and followed her. Both she and Uzuki had prepared for this mission, taking everything necessary. Yashiro had a giant scabbard on her back, and a blade handle protuded from the top. She also wore a belt with a smaller scabbard attached, however this one had a handle coming from it that was round.

Uzuki was carrying a bag with her art supplies, and attached to her back was something covered in white bandages. I couldn't tell what it was.

"We're meeting up with the King Zora today. We'll have to ask him if he's heard or seen anything suspicious."

"W-Wait, did you say... King Zora?" I screamed.

"What's wrong with it?" Yashiro asked.

Uzuki was silent. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Sorry Link. But it's for the mission."

"What?" Yashiro asked again.

I shuddered. "Uh, you'll see... but hopefully, she's not here..."

We all walked through the corridors of the Zora's Domain, Yashiro still having a look of wonder about what me and Uzuki were talking about. The waterfall was still here, and I could see Zora's diving off it and swimming in the water below. If I wanted to join them, all I had to do was put on my Zora's Mask. But sadly, I couldn't. We were only here to finish the mission. As we walked past a pool of water that was left in the stone, I bent over and grabbed a fish with one of my empty bottles.

"What are you grabbing the fish for?" Yashiro asked.

"If Barinade is alive, we're going to need this," I replied. I put the bottle in my bag.

"So... Barinade likes fish?"

"You'll see when we get there!"

We continued to walk through the corridors and hallways, until we came across a huge room. There was the King, sitting on his throne. There was a small platform across from him, which allowed people to talk to him.

I walked up the platform, and greeted the King with a bow.

"Hello, King Zora," I greeted. "Do you remember me?"

He chuckled. "Of course I remember you, Link! Ruto won't stop talking about you!"

I blushed, and then jumped when I heard a scream. Ruto came running towards me from her room, and tackled me to the floor, planting kisses on my forehead.

"Link! I'm so glad you came to visit me! I missed you so much!" she laughed. I could hear Uzuki giggling, and Yashiro groaning.

"Um, sorry Ruto, but that's not why we're here. You see, Uzuki, Yashiro and I are-"

Ruto lifted her head, and glared at the Reapers. "Who are those two?" she asked suspiciously. "You aren't dating other woman, are you? You know we're engaged!"

I groaned.

Yashiro made a puking face.

Uzuki was silent.

I lifted Ruto off of me, and stood up. "Neither one of them is my girlfriend! They're just friends!"

"They'd better be!" she yelled again.

"They are! But Ruto, I have to tell you something, I'm not here to see _you_, no offense, but Uzuki, Yashiro and I are on a very important mission, regarding your father. Sorry, but that's just the way it is."

A look of sorrow filled her eyes. "Oh, I see, you just don't want to _admit_ you love me. You're acting shy. Alright, you finish your 'mission'. I'll wait."

"Uh, sure?" I turned my attention to the King. "Your Majesty, has anything weird been going on around here lately? Anything at all?"

He sighed, and began to tap his fingers against his throne. "Nothing out of the ordinary, however, Jabu-Jabu has been acting strange lately. And the water around him doesn't look very good at all. It looks murky. Also, when one of our Zora guards went out to examine the water, he said it felt like sticking his finger into static electricity. He had a slight shock when he touched the water. I'm afraid this might be what's upsetting Lord Jabu-Jabu."

That must be Barinade. He _was_ a huge killer jellyfish after all.

"Sir, you wouldn't mind if I investigate the area with my partners here, do you?" I asked. "I think I may be able to fix your problem."

"By all means, Link! Just be careful around that water, it's been getting worse since the trouble began."

I nodded, and motioned my hand for Uzuki and Yashiro to follow me. I walked off the platform, and took a ramp of stone that lead behind the King's throne. I turned to the right, and trudged through the water leading to Jabu-Jabu's lake. The water here hadn't been affected. It felt fine.

When we reached the back area, Yashiro burst into laughter.

"So that's why you didn't want to come here!" she laughed. "You were afraid of your homicidal fiancee!"

"Alright, alright, no need to laugh," I muttered. I've got to stop hanging out with so many girls. I pulled the bottle from my bag as we approached Jabu-Jabu. He was huge, and looked like nothing would hurt him, but like the King had said, he looked quite uneasy. And he couldn't escape from this electrified water either, the entire lake was surrounded by brick wall. I could hear the sad noises coming from the fish's mouth.

I bent down on the brick flooring, and dipped my fingers in the gray water. Sure enough, my fingers got a quick shock, almost like the ones you get from touching a metal doorknob while walking over a carpet. Suddenly, the shocking feeling got worse, almost like an electric strike. I quickly pulled my fingers from the water, and examined them. They were a slight red.

"How's the water?" Uzuki asked me.

"Not good," I replied, and rubbed my fingers against my lap, trying to ease the pain. "We gotta owe one to this fish, he's pretty strong to be able to survive in water like this. But if it gets any worse, I don't know how much longer he'll last."

"Then let's get this mission finished!" Yashiro muttered. "This is a mission for a King, who knows what our reward will be!"

I rolled my eyes, and stood up. I walked to the front of Jabu-Jabu, and bent down again. I took out the fish in the bottle I had gotten, and dumped the fish in front of him. He opened his mouth, expecting me to feed him the delicious treat. I stepped onto his tongue.

"Well, what are you two waiting for?" I asked Uzuki and Yashiro.  
"Eww! Gross!" Yashiro shuddered. "I'm not stepping into a diseased fish's mouth!"

"It's either you go in here, or lose your reward. What'll it be?"

She groaned, and stepped onto the fish's tongue, next to me. Uzuki followed her. We all walked down into the fish's mouth together. The fish closed its mouth soon after we stepped inside.

"Ugh, it stinks in here!" Uzuki muttered.

As we reached the main area of Jabu-Jabu's mouth, I could see two Octoroks popping their heads out of the water. Yep, there was definitely something bothering Jabu-Jabu. I took out my slingshot and fired both of them, and they sunk to the bottom of the water, and disappeared.

"Quick thinking," Uzuki complimented.

"I've been here before," I mumbled. "Besides, the most damage they could do to us is a simple bruise. They're not very strong." I took out my boomerang and threw it at the yellow switch at the roof of Jabu-Jabu's mouth. It moved up, and the door ahead opened. I ran to it, Uzuki and Yashiro following, and slid into the other room, trying to get through the door before it closed.

This place was different now.

Instead of there being several paths to take, the entire room was opened up, and there was a floor covering the entire area. There were no enemies nearby either: not a good sign.

"Think it's further on?" Yashiro asked Uzuki.

"Hmm, I don't think so. This room is quiet. All the rooms in a dungeon or temple have a meaning. This place isn't here for nothing."

"You nerd." Yashiro walked up next to me. "Anything suspicious here Link?"

I looked around. There was nothing on the ceiling. Nothing on the floor. Nothing on the walls. This room was completely _empty_. Literally, there was nothing. When we were all quiet, the only thing we could hear was the sound of water dripping. Something definitely wasn't right, but what was wrong? Maybe the problem was that it was _too_ quiet. I stomped the floor with my foot. I noticed that it felt like a static shock.

"Uzuki, Yashiro, can you two do me a favor?" I asked them.

"What is it?" Uzuki asked.

"I want to know if this room has the most static shock than the others. Uzuki, run ahead to the next room, and Yashiro, go to the room that comes after that. Stomp the floor with your feet, and tell me if the electric force was strong. Whichever room has the stronger force, than that's the room that Barinade is in."

"Sure thing," Yashiro said. She grabbed Uzuki's arm and pulled her into the next room.

I examined the room carefully, trying to find a monster, a switch, or anything that could help me. But this room was just flooring, walls, doors and ceiling.

Finally, Uzuki and Yashiro came running from the rooms ahead.

"There's no static shock in the room I was in," Yashiro reported.

"The shock in my room was low," Uzuki muttered. She stomped the floor. "Yep, this room is definitely weaker. Barinade has to be in here."

"But where the hell could he be?" I yelled. I was pretty much on the verge of giving up. "This entire room is useless!"

"Maybe it's a puzzle," Uzuki predicted. "Did you look at the entire area? The walls? The floor?"

"I looked everywhere, but there's nothing."

Uzuki walked ahead of me, and then began walking in circles. "In Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly, there were a lot of sinkholes." She walked with high steps, lifting her feet up high before gingerly touching the ground. She placed her foot against the floor near the corner, and she gasped. "Guys, over here! There's a sinkhole over here!"

Yashiro and I ran over to her. She pointed at the floor.

"Maybe Barinade is down there," she said. "Come on!" She jumped down the sinkhole, followed by Yashiro. I took a deep breath, and slipped myself through the hole. It felt really slimy, but when I was through, I was in another large room, one that was similar to the last one, only bigger. There were bubbles floating around the area, and the walls looked like the murky water surrounding Lord Jabu-Jabu. And, like the other room, this place was empty too.

But it didn't _feel _empty. You know what I mean, when you get that feeling that you're not alone?

"Do you... hear something?" Uzuki asked me in a low voice. I looked around, and suddenly, I could see something descending around us.

Jellyfish stingers.

I looked up, to see Barinade slowly coming down from the ceiling. It floated from above us, and hovered itself just a few meters in front of us. Strange gelatinous cubes floated around his body. Its body was also black, and covered with glowing blue twilight marks.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yashiro screamed. She pulled out a blue colored gun from her belt scabbard. It had a long blade at the end, and attached to the side were several blue kunais.

"Yashiro! You're gonna use your kunai gun?" Uzuki asked her.

"This thing is a _jellyfish_!" she screamed back. "We can't touch it!" She aimed her gun at Barinade, and pulled the trigger. A kunai shot from the blade, and flew into the cube surrounding the monster. It stuck into the cube. "Crap!" Yashiro yelled.

Uzuki looked at me. "Link! Think you can disable Barinade's shields with your boomerang?"

I pulled it out from my bag. I threw it at the shield, and it turned purple. When the boomerang came back, I threw it again, and this time the shield broke. I took this as an advantage to take my boomerang and hit Barinade with it. I threw it at the monster, and it cut through its gelatinous body, leaving behind electrified goo. The boomerang returned to me.

"Yashiro!" Uzuki yelled. Yashiro came running up to her. "Special tactic one!" Yashiro nodded, and backed up. Uzuki began to run towards Barinade, Yashiro following her. Then, Uzuki skidded to a stop, and Yashiro kept running. As she approached Uzuki, she jumped off her back, and flipped through the air, high above Barinade's head. She began firing her kunais at the top of the jellyfish's head, where it wasn't protected by shields. All the kunais shot towards it, and pierced through its body. Yashiro landed on her feet on the other side of Barinade.

"Special tactic two!" Uzuki screamed again. She got to her hands and knees, and then sprinted at Barnicade. Yashiro did the same. Then they leaped into the air, spinning as they jumped, and suddenly, a blue wave began to wrap around their bodies. Their bodies were completely covered in a strange blue essence now, and they struck Barinade with their attack. I couldn't see anything after that. Everything just exploded into white smoke.

Yashiro and Uzuki flew from the smoke, and landed on their feet next to me. They looked beaten up.

"Man, there is nothing stopping this thing!" Uzuki growled.

"Can we use tactic three?" Yashiro asked her.

Uzuki shook her head. "No, that's too much Soul to use. You remember the last time we tried it."

Yashiro became silent. She reached her right arm over her shoulder, and pulled on the handle coming from the scabbard on her back. As she pulled it out, I realized it was a huge blade, almost about the same size as her. She held it across her shoulders. She was now carrying her kunai gun in her left hand, and her sword in her right.

"Link, we'll take care of those shields, and you attack Barinade!" Yashiro ordered. Uzuki groaned, and held her right hand up. The bandaged weapon she had on her back floated up, towards her hands. As it did, the bandages unraveled, revealing an iron scythe. The blade was curved, and looked extremely sharp. The bandages disappeared. Uzuki held the scythe over her shoulder.

"You know the plan Link?" Uzuki asked me.

"Uh, yeah," I stammered, still shocked by the amazing weapons they possessed.

Uzuki tilted her neck to the right, causing it to make a snapping sound. "Ready, Yashiro-chan?"

Yashiro didn't even reply, and immediately ran to the shields surrounding Barinade. She slashed at them with her sword, each swing making a ripping sound. Uzuki rolled her eyes, and charged off towards the jellyfish. She swung her scythe around, tearing the blade through the shields. I ran up next to them, waiting for the shields to break. I grasped my fingers around the handle of my blade, ready to strike.

Yashiro leaped into the air and slashed the shield downwards with her blade. The shield broke, and Yashiro ran around the jellyfish to handle the other shields. I pulled my sword out and began slashing at Barinade's body, which couldn't shock me anymore because it was weakened without its shields. I continued to slash at it, until the shield formed itself back up again, and knocked me away, sending electricity through my body. I landed hard on the ground.

"Link!" Uzuki yelled at me. "Are you okay?"

I sat up, and rubbed my forehead. My brain felt rattled by the sudden burst of electricity. "Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered. I stood back up.

Uzuki made another slash at the shield, and it broke. I shook away the pain in my brain, and leapt at Barinade. I slashed at him quickly this time, trying to get in as many hits before the shield reformed. Finally, as I made a final strike, the Barinade cried out in pain, and fell to the ground. I jumped away from it, and Uzuki backed up. Yashiro came running from the other side of the jellyfish. The monster dissolved into twilight.

"Nice fighting, Link," Uzuki said to me. "We were correct to go here next. And we won the battle."

"For now," a strange voice said. I looked forward, trying to find the source of the voice. A person in a black robe was sitting against the wall. His robe was like Mikumo's: it had more zippers. He must have been from the Society.

He pulled his hood off.

"Jun!" Uzuki screamed.

"My, my, if it isn't Uzuki and her good friend, Yashiro. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Jun mumbled. He looked at me. "And if it isn't the little vermin we all know and love, Link Nohansen Hyrule." He smirked, his fangs sticking from the corner of his mouth. "Sorry children, but you're getting in the way of our plans. Killing off all our creations is just too cruel." He sounded rather sarcastic. "So be good little children, and give up. You don't stand a chance against us anyways."

"Oh yeah?" I yelled. I leaped at him with my sword high above my head. He swung his arm, and I was pushed back by a strange force. I landed on the ground on my back.

"Persistent little vermin, huh?" Jun laughed. He pulled out a staff with a sharp iron point, and aimed it at my neck. "All I need is some of your blood, and I can be on my way."

Yashiro jumped at Jun, and he grabbed her arm with his free hand, keeping his staff aimed at my neck. He threw her to the ground. Uzuki prepared her scythe.

Jun smirked again. "Don't try and fight me. The only thing I came here for was Link." He placed the staff edge harder against my neck.

This was it.

He was going to get my blood, so he could resurrect Ganondorf.

And he was going to kill me.

I felt a sharp pain fly across my neck. I screamed.

I opened my eyes and looked up, to see Mitsuhiro standing above me. He was holding the staff.

"You loser," he laughed. I looked to my right to see Jun lying on the ground.

I felt my neck with my fingers. I looked at my fingertips. There was blood.

Shuto walked up next to Mitsuhiro. "Get a bandage," he told Mitsuhiro. "Don't let any of that blood get on the floor. Destroy the staff too. Leave no trace."

Mitsuhiro pulled a long white bandage from his bag, and he lifted my head. He wrapped the bandages around my neck, and then he lifted me up to my feet.

"Why did you guys come here anyways?" I asked him.

"Yashiro sent out a distress signal, so we got here as fast as we could," Shuto answered.

Yashiro walked up to Jun's limp body and kicked him. "Yep, he's out cold. I'll send him back to the Dark Realm." She bent down, and placed her fingers on Jun's head. He dissolved into twilight.

"So, besides our run-in with Jun, how did the mission go?" Shuto asked Uzuki.

"It was fine. We defeated Barinade," she reported. "All we have to do now is figure out what the Society's next move is."

A Short Interlude

Iwata seated himself at the head table, next to Mikumo and Ixion.

"So, Jun, tell me the bad news," he said. Jun had arrived from his task several minutes earlier.

"I'm sorry sir, but I failed. I didn't know that the Reaper girl had sent a distress signal," Jun reported in a low voice. "And that boy, Mitsuhiro... he had a stronger Soul reading than I have ever seen."

"You gotta watch out for that kid," Ixion said sharply. She sighed and crossed her legs. "He's as deadly as a tank when he's in his awakened form. Probably even stronger than us."

"Sis, are you saying that a worthless vermin like him could stop _us_?" Xixion interrupted, even as her sister gave her a cruel look.

"But he is strong," Iwata cut in. "Right now though, we have to get Link's awakened blood. The child is worthless the way he is now. If we want to awaken Link's blood, we need Dex's and the Deity's cooperation."

"Good luck trying to do that," Mikumo snickered. "The Deity is pretty much on Link's side, and Dex is as stubborn as a mule. He can't decide who's side he's on."

"According to his recent history," Luxerus muttered. "He usually hangs around the Mirror of Twilight to the north." He positioned his glasses closer to his face. "And it seems he's chosen to keep his distance from Link until Link has become stronger."

"Aww, can't we just go and get Link?" Ixion whined. "It's boring just sitting around like this!"

"We need Link's blood to be awakened first," Iwata grumbled. "If his blood is awakened, it will make our goal easier to achieve."

"Sheesh, the King of Evil sure is hard to satisfy," Xixion snickered under her breath.

"Iwata, I suggest we should get Link to awaken Dex when we take his power," Luxerus added. "Dex uses darkness to fight, which means it will be more pure for the King to use."

"That's a good observation Luxerus," Iwata said. "We just need Dex on our side." Iwata turned his gaze to Xixion. "Xixion, I want you to do whatever it takes to get Dex on our side."

"Whatever you say, Iwata," Xixion yawned. She rested her head against her chair.

"Then our plan is almost complete," Mikumo sighed.

"Then let us begin," Iwata said. "Our plan to resurrect King Ganondorf shall be fulfilled!"


	18. Traveling Time with the Time Gate

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 18: Traveling Through Time with the Time Gate**

I sat at the table, across from Uzuki. Yashiro sat next to her, a bag of chips in her hand, and Mitsuhiro sat next to me, along with Shuto. We were back in the Dark Realm again. Yashiro had transported us all there.

"So what do we do now?" I asked Shuto.

"We have to figure out what the Society is going to pull off next," Shuto muttered.

"All they've been doing so far is resurrecting monsters," Uzuki said. "But I think that this is going to stop now that they know we're on to them. They may start creating new monsters, ones that will be harder to defeat. The only thing we can do now is prepare ourselves for the coming battle."

"What about the Mirror of Twilight?" I asked. "It turns out that it's the Temple of Time in my world. I never got a chance to activate it."

"Then we'll send you back to Castle Town after this," Mitsuhiro said. "We might as well send Miu with you. She can be used for communication between us."

Miu jumped onto the table, and cuddled under my arms.

"So that man we encountered back when we defeated Barinade. . ." I began. ". . .was Shuto's older brother?"

Shuto nodded. "He's not the best guy to come into contact with."

"You two don't look anything alike."

"He takes more after my father. I take after my mother."

"I'm guessing the personalities follow the same trend?"

"Yep."

I yawned and pulled out my Time Gate and pen. I loaded the nib with ink.

_January 11th,_

_I've gathered lots of information about the Time Keepers, which I am going to record here so I don't forget it. _

_-Mitsuhiro Minamimoto, age seventeen, male_

_-Fights with katana, hands, and has the ability to release time from a person's lifespan using his Time Distorter  
-Killed in a car accident, during testing  
-Member number one of the Time Keepers_

_-Uzuki Kasahara, age sixteen, female_

_-Fights with scythe and hands, and has the ability to create things by drawing them  
-Does not remember her death  
-Member number two of the Time Keepers_

_-Yashiro Takahashi, age sixteen, female_

_-Fights with kunai gun, hands, and sword, and has extreme strength  
-Killed by gun wound  
-Member number three of the Time Keepers_

_-Shuto Kaniji, age sixteen, male_

_-Fights with flute, hands, and has the ability to distort sound  
-Killed by strange unknown illness  
-Member number four and founder of the Time Keepers_

_Miu, age seven, female_

_-Has no fighting skills, but has the ability to copy other people's appearances, and fly with dragon wings  
-An experiment that went wrong, but death is unknown  
-Not a member of the Time Keepers, but belongs to Shuto Kaniji_

_-Kon_

_-Has no fighting skills at this point, but takes my place whenever needed.  
-A puppet drawn and brought to life by Uzuki Kasahara  
- Not really a member of the Time Keepers, and turns into a small doll whenever not needed._

_These are the current members of the Time Keepers, and I have now joined them as the fifth member. I will also list the names of the Society members that we must defeat._

_Iwata Hashimoto  
Jun Kaniji  
Mikumo Sato_

_At this point, I am also unsure of Dex's and the Deity's goals. I may not see Dex for a long time, or the Deity, but when I do encounter them again, I will be stronger. This I promise._

I closed my Time Gate, and set it on the table_, _along with my pen. Uzuki and Yashiro were drawing on a sheet of paper. I didn't know Yashiro liked to draw too. She held the paper at Uzuki, and she smiled.

"Great drawing, Yashiro," Uzuki muttered. Then she turned back to her own drawing, and placed her hands on the paper. A small light erupted from the sheet, and a butterfly flew up. It was black, with small hints of blue on the feathers. The butterfly flew above Uzuki's head. She shot her hand up and grabbed the butterfly, and then crushed it into twilight in her fingers.

"It's erasure day guys," she sighed.

"Wow, already?" Shuto asked.

"Yep. Where should we strike today?"

"Erasure day?" I asked in confusion.

"Today is when we all go down to erase humans for our life span," Mitsuhiro muttered.

"Whoopie," Yashiro sighed. "About time."

"I'm heading to Kakariko," Uzuki said. I shuddered. They were actually going to kill people from my own world?

"That leaves me to Clock Town!" Yashiro laughed.

"I'll take the Deku Palace," Shuto said.

"I guess that leaves me with Castle Town," Mitsuhiro muttered.

"Hold on a second!" I interrupted. They all looked at me. "So you're just going to go out and kill people?"

"It's what we do. Don't worry, we each kill only three people," Shuto said.

"But that's terrible! I've been to all those places, and you're just going to kill the people I've met?"

"No, we'll stay away from people you know," Uzuki said. "We'll kill people who are getting old, or who are sick in the hospital. That way it's easier for us to hide."

I felt like I was going to be sick. This was terrible.

"Link, this is exactly what we're trying to fight against," Uzuki said softly. "Don't worry. If we fight against Iwata and the Society, we won't have to kill people anymore."

I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Alright. You guys go out and fulfill your jobs. I'll stay here and train."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Yashiro asked me. "It's not safe to leave you here alone."

"I'll be fine. Besides, I don't think I could watch humans getting killed."

Uzuki nodded and walked out the door.

"Stay out of trouble," Mitsuhiro grumbled, and shuffled towards the door with Yashiro and Shuto. He closed the door behind him, leaving me alone in the house with Miu and Kon.

I opened my Time Gate and looked through my previous entries. I wanted to figure out how to travel through time.

"Hey, Mitsuhiro said to stay out of trouble," Kon said from the living room, perking his plush toy head up. He bounced from the living room and towards me. "Don't go doing anything funny!"

"I'm just sitting here, nothing to freak out about," I lied.

Kon raised his eyebrow at me. "Link, nice lie. I'm practically you. I know what you're thinking! You want to use the Time Gate!" He jumped onto my back. "No way! You don't even know how to use it!"

"And I'm guessing you do?"

He gasped, and put his hands over his mouth, regretting his words. "Oops. . ."

I grabbed him and held him to my face.

"So how do you use it?" I asked him in a low voice.

He crossed his arms. "I'll never tell!"

"Come on, please?"

He groaned. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to get back here before the others do, and you have to take me along with you."

"Fine. Tell me how to use it." I set him on the table. He transformed to his bigger form, and sat on his toes. He looked at the pages of the Time Gate.

"So, what date do you want to travel to?" he asked me.

I thought it over. "Send me to the night of the carnival. I want to enjoy it for the last time."

"Alright, but you have to disguise yourself. You wouldn't want to ruin your future, right? The Link from the night of the carnival will be meeting up with Mitsuhiro, so you can't get in the way of that. And you have to wear your robe, with your hood over your face, and a mask. We can't have you two spotted in the same place at the same time. Also, you're going to be invisible to the people that had nothing to do with you that day. The only places you can be seen by normal people are inside buildings marked with silver clocks."

"Gee, that really leaves tons of options for fun," I snickered. "Fine, I'll wear the robe. Just tell me how to get there."

"Alright, to open the door through time, you have to focus all your energy to your left hand, where the Triforce is. Then place your hand on the page with the correct diary entry, and the door will open. That's it."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "That's it? I could have figured that out myself!"

"Then why didn't you?" Kon smirked at me. He turned back into a doll, and jumped into my bag. I strapped my bag onto my shoulders, and turned the Time Gate's pages to the diary entry about the carnival.

I looked at my palm, and began to focus my magic to my hand. When I had enough magic, I placed my palm against the diary entry. Strange black lettering that looked like Hylian writing began to circle around my hand. A strange black aura appeared from the lettering, and a black hole opened from beneath my hand. I took my hand off the paper.

I took a deep breath, and jumped through the portal.

I was surrounded in white.

It reminded me of how I used to travel through time with my Ocarina of Time. Strange white plates flew past us, each one with a symbol embedded on them. Kon stuck his head out from my bag, and his mouth gaped open in awe at the sight.

I landed hard on the roof of a building. I'm pretty sure all this falling was bad for my spine.

I stood up, and stretched my arms up, easing the pain from my back. I looked up at the night sky, to see fireworks bursting with the stars themselves.

I was back in Clock Town.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Mitsuhiro walked through the graveyard of Castle Town, the clouds above growing thicker. He could tell it was going to rain soon. He was just hoping he could find someone to kill before the rain started.

He walked passed the graves, paying no attention to the people that were already there paying their respects. When he came across one grave, he stopped. He looked down at the rectangular-shaped grave, and bit his lip. He read the letters that were carved into the stone.

_Uzuki Kasahara_

_Loving Daughter, Sister, and Friend_

_May She Rest in Peace_

Mitsuhiro kneeled in front of the grave with a sorrowful expression on his face.

"I couldn't save you. . . I'm sorry. . ." he said softly as he stared at the grave. He didn't even notice that it had started raining. As the rain grew heavier, the other people that were there began to leave for their homes. Mitsuhiro stayed.

He felt something touch the back of his head.

Then he heard a clicking sound, like the sound of a gun being loaded.

Mitsuhiro looked back to see a black-haired boy holding a handgun to his head.

"Oh, it's you again. . ." Mitsuhiro said.

"You. . . bastard!" the boy yelled. He pulled the trigger, releasing a bullet, but his attempt to kill Mitsuhiro was interrupted when Mitsuhiro's body exploded into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a black flower. The boy spun around, only to receive a punch to the face from Mitsuhiro, knocking him down.

"What are you doing?" Mitsuhiro hissed.

The boy jumped back up. "You killed her! You killed both of them!" he screamed as he pulled out a second handgun. He jumped up onto Uzuki's grave, and then jumped even higher into the air, pulling the triggers on his handguns and firing multiple bullets at Mitsuhiro.

He dodged them all, and then grabbed the boy's shirt, pinning him to the ground.

"I didn't kill anybody!"

The boy pulled out a knife and stuck it into Mitsuhiro's chest, and then threw him off. Mitsuhiro yelled in pain as he pulled the knife out from his body.

"What the hell are you?" the boy yelled at Mitsuhiro.

Mitsuhiro threw the knife back at the boy. The boy caught it, and then put it back into his sheath.

"Don't go so easy on me just because I'm a pathetic little human, Reaper!" the boy screamed in an psychotic voice. "Come at me and try to kill me!"

_This guy is nuts!_ Mitsuhiro thought as he jumped away from the boy's sharp knives. _But I know him. . . he was that guy that Uzuki and Yashiro used to hang around with all the time when they were in the eighth grade. . . wait a minute. . . it can't be. . . _

The boy leaped into the air and began firing more bullets at Mitsuhiro.

"Makoto!" Mitsuhiro screamed.

The boy stopped, landed on the ground, and grinned at him. He pointed his gun at him. "Well, well, well, you do remember. . . then I guess you should remember that day. . . the day when you pushed Uzuki in front of a moving car!"

Mitsuhiro shook his head. "I didn't–"

"And then the day when you came back and shot my stepsister!"

"That wasn't me who killed your sister!"

"Shut up!" The boy pulled the trigger on his handgun, sending another bullet towards Mitsuhiro.

_Dammit!_ Mitsuhiro thought as he dodged the bullet. _I can't kill him here because that would hurt Uzuki and Yashiro. . . but I can't let him get away alive either now that he knows who I am!_ _I have to erase his memory. . ._

Strangely enough, the boy turned around, and started walking in the other direction. Mitsuhiro charged at him with his katana, but before his strike could hit him, the boy lifted his handgun, stopping the blade from hitting him.

He took his second handgun, and pressed it against Mitsuhiro's chest.

Then he laughed psychotically before pulling the trigger.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 18 (continued)

I pulled my hood over my head, and placed the Captain's Hat over my face. Surely no one would recognize me. I jumped from the roof, and landed on the pavement. Kon was right: no one could see me, they just went along with their busy schedules.

I realized I was in West Clock Town. I headed towards the curio shop, and opened the door. On the wood of the door, were silver numbers, and two silver hands pointed to a different number. These must have been the silver clocks. I could be seen here. I stepped inside the shop.

"Hello valued customer!" the storekeeper greeted as I walked in the door. He scratched his somewhat bald scalp. Yep, he could see me. But his reaction? Me, a valued customer? This guy could barely keep his hands off of other people's useless junk. He was as trusting as a snake. You _couldn't_ trust him at all.

"What can I get for you on this fine night?" he asked me. He scratched his head again.

I reached my hand into my bag, and pulled out the goggles. I had been meaning to fix them while I was in Castle Town, but I kept putting it off. I set the goggles on the counter.

"Could you fix the lenses on this?" I asked him.

He took the goggles, and examined them. He began to scratch his back with his other hand. "Sure thing, but it'll cost ten rupees."

I pulled a yellow rupee from my back pocket and then set it on the counter. He took it, and then turned around to the little working table he had behind the counter against the wall. I figured that I had to wait, so I sat down at a chair near the door. I examined the little shop while I waited. Pieces of metal were piled up against the corner of the room. Masks of all kind were hanging on the walls, along with paintings and maps. A suit of armor was sitting against the counter, lifeless, looking like it hadn't been used in centuries. Old books were stacked on top of each other next to me. I picked up one and examined the dusty cover.

_Puppetry Spells._

I opened the book, and tried to examine the writing on the ripped yellow pages. It looked like someone had just scribbled the notes down. I turned the page, and saw a drawing of a puppet creation charm. It had all sorts of designs around it: a moon, a star, the Triforce, a sun, and other things of that matter. I shuddered and closed the book. I set it back down with the rest of the pile. What kind of person would read that stuff anyways?

The shopkeeper waved at me, signaling that he was done. I stood up from the chair and walked to the counter, shifting my eyes to examine the other things the man had set up here. When I reached the counter, he passed me the goggles, the glass in the lenses fixed and cleaned. The strap that went around the head was new too.

"There you go kid," the shopkeeper said. He began to scratch his head again. _Always with the scratching! _I thought, getting more irritated every time I looked at him. "I fixed the leather strap too. It was looking pretty weak and worn-down."

"Thanks," I muttered and wrapped the goggles around my neck. I lifted the lenses and put them over my eyes. Everything was clear, and they fit perfectly. I took them off my eyes and dropped them back around my neck.

"That all kid?" the shopkeeper asked me, as he scratched his back.

"Yeah, thanks again," I said, and turned towards the door. I took a final glance at the stack of puppet books near the chair, and then left the curio shop.

"Okay, so what was the point of all that?" Kon asked me, sticking his head from my bag.

"I just wanted to get those goggles fixed," I replied. "They may come in handy someday."

"Whatever, but I gotta say, that man in there seemed awful _shady_. Did you see all the stuff he had in there?"

"Tell me about it." I laughed. "That guy's been creeping me and Byrne out since the day we first met him." I remembered the time the shopkeeper got real mad at Byrne and I, because we were taking a long time choosing out comic books. He began to accuse us of shoplifting. Sure, like that guy hasn't robbed people before, when he wasn't scratching himself. Honestly, that guy had some _serious _itching problems.

"So where to now Link?" Kon asked.

"I don't know. I really just came here so I could test the Time Gate out. But if you insist I do something, then I guess I'll go get myself a pastry. The café gives them out for free on special occasions."

"Get me one, okay? I love their chocolate cake!"

"Since when do you eat the chocolate cake from Clock Town's café?" I asked suspiciously.

"When I was pretending to be you, Byrne bought me a piece of cake. It was so delicious!" Kon began to drool on my shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I'll get you some chocolate cake," I groaned, and wiped the drool from my tunic with my hand.

I walked up the staircase to the main area of West Clock Town, and then I took another staircase down to South Clock Town. This place was always the most crowded. People were literally pushing each other out of the way. Other people were dancing to the music, wearing their masks and costumes. I walked around the back of the Clock Tower, where it was less crowded, and then went through the doorway leading to East Clock Town. This place was the second place in town where people could party. Nobody ever went to North Clock Town, except for the Bombers and the romantic couples trying to get away from the rush to have a moment alone to themselves.

When I reached East Clock Town, I saw that this place was just as crowded as South Clock Town. People who were members of the milk bar were wearing their masks, which was proof of membership, and were making their way into the building. Of course, there weren't very many. That place only had a few members, and you couldn't get in unless you were a member. I could go in there if I wanted to, but I didn't. There weren't many people to talk to.

I went to the café that was across the street from the milk bar, and walked to the counter.

"Two pieces of chocolate cake please," I asked the lady at the register.

"It's on the house today," she said, smiling. She handed me two pieces of double layer chocolate cake.

I walked to a table, and sat down. I looked over my shoulder to see Kon already drooling at the sight of the cake. I picked a piece off the cake with my fork, and fed him the chocolate dessert. He ate it heartily, and enjoyed every bite of it.

"So delicious!" he giggled. I was worried it was going to make him hyper.

After Kon finished his cake, and I finished mine, I left the café. Kon stuck his head out from my bag, and began to look around the area.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Something is wrong here, but. . . I don't know what. . ." He pointed to the place he was looking at. A figure wearing a black robe was standing near the inn. The hood was down, allowing me to see their face. It was a woman, with short black hair, and thin black eyes. She was leaning against the wall of the inn, with her arms crossed. She was smirking at me. I saw a fang stick out from the corner of her mouth.

"Kon, we have to get out of here. Now," I said in a low voice. I started to back up to the entrance to South Clock Town.

"How did they know we were coming here?" Kon asked me quietly.

"I don't know. . . Kon, how do we get back to our own time?" I was getting nervous.

"The portal should still be open, so head back to the roof of that building you landed on!"

Crap. That was all the way back in West Clock Town. Could I make it? I looked back at the woman. Her body was dissolving into twilight. She disappeared.

I took this as my chance to escape, so I spun around, and ran through the entrance to South Clock Town. I looked back to see if she was following me. She was gone. When I ran through South Clock Town, I literally pushed everyone out of the way. They didn't notice me of course, but they were still pushed none of the less. A lot of them had surprised expressions on their faces, all of them wondering what had pushed them. When I reached the building I had jumped off of, I stepped onto the wall and walked up. Usually, I would expect to see people staring at me in amazement, but considering they couldn't see me. . . I felt so tempted to pull a prank. But one stunt like that could ruin my future, so I decided not to.

When I reached the roof, I saw a thin black hole in front of me. Sitting next to the portal was the girl I had seen in East Clock Town.

"Link! Hurry! The door is closing!" Kon yelled from inside my bag.

I couldn't move. I could tell that by the woman's eyes, if I moved she would attack me, or possibly kill me. She had the look of a demon. She reminded me of the look Dex always had in his eyes. The bloodthirsty look.

"Who are you?" I managed to ask.

She didn't respond. She simply stood up, and began cracking her knuckles. She walked towards me.

I swallowed. This girl definitely meant business. I pulled my sword out, and held my left fist out ready to fight.

She smiled. But it didn't look like a 'Nice to meet you' smile. It looked like a 'I want to kill you' smile.

"Well, what a cute kid you are," she said. Her voice sounded like ice. "You look as charming as Dex. Of course, he kind of fits my personality better. You're too much of a goody-goody. Actually, I didn't expect to see you here, considering you're from the future and everything. Guess it was fate we were to meet here."

Who's side was she on? She was definitely with the Society, but she didn't seem to want to drag me away like the others.

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"My name is Xixion Kobayashi. Number five in the Society. I was supposed to come get you next week, but since you're here. . . I guess I can just take care of you now!" She snapped her fingers, and a huge hammer appeared in her hand.

I looked at the portal. It was pretty near closing. I couldn't fight her here; I had to get back before the portal closed for good and I was stuck here. She circled around me, holding the hammer up high, ready to strike.

"Link!" Kon hissed from inside my bag. "You have to hurry! That portal won't stay open for much longer!"

"I know!" I hissed back through gritted teeth as I began to circle around Xixion as well. I would have to fake an attack, and run to the portal, or throw a Deku Nut, or do _anything_ to get out of this mess. I realized I was still wearing my Captain's Hat. Maybe I could use it. . .

I placed my feet against the ground, and held my hands up. Goddess, I hope this would work.

"Stalchildren!" I yelled. "Battle formation!" I felt like an idiot. My thoughts were disturbed however, when a skeleton arm shot up from underneath the roof. Its fingers dragged themselves against the ground, pulling up more and more of the body, until a Stalchild was standing on the roof, its eyes glowing an angry red. Soon, there were more of them, all of them lumbering towards Xixion.

"What the hell?" Xixion screeched. She swung her hammer at them, destroying them all into shattered bones. But the bones just reformed themselves back into Stalchildren, and they soon became really mad. More Stalchildren crawled up from the ground.

"Link! Make a getaway while you still have the chance! The portal is almost closed!" Kon screamed from my bag.

I ran around the Stalchildren that were attacking Xixion. It was hard to figure out where Xixion would swing her hammer. When she swung it, it made a lot of distance. I also kept running into the Stalchildren, or stepping on their bones when they had been hit.

"Oh no, you don't!" Xixion screamed. She lifted her hammer up high, and struck down towards me. I leaped out of the way, jumping just in time, and ran through the portal.

I heard Xixion scream in defeat.

When I landed back in my time, I landed hard on the floor, on my chest this time. I stood up, and sat down at the table. I looked at the page in my Time Gate. The diary entry looked perfectly normal. No black hole. No strange lettering. I sighed, and closed the Time Gate, then put it in my bag.

Kon jumped out, and sat on the table in front of me. "That was way too close!" he yelled.

"I'll say," I muttered. "I'd better get outside and start training."

I turned towards the door just in time to see Uzuki and the others walk in.

But Mitsuhiro was gone.


	19. Guardian of the Temple of Time

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 19: Guardian of the Temple of Time**

Yashiro examined me from top to bottom. "So, what happened to you, you get mauled by a thief caravan?"

I gotta admit, I didn't look that good. My tunic was pretty dirty, and I had a bit of dirt on my face. It all came from the battle against Xixion. Luckily, I had time to take off my Captain's Hat before any of the Reapers noticed. They would have gotten suspicious as to why I was wearing a mask.

"I was, uh, training," I lied.

Uzuki raised her eyebrow at me. "Training? You dirty little liar," she growled.

"What? I'm not lying!"

"Uh, Link, I think it would be safe not to question her," Yashiro laughed. "She can tell when people are lying. Isn't that right, Uzuki-chan?"

"His aura is too unstable! What were you doing while we were gone?" Uzuki yelled.

"Listen, it really doesn't matter at this point."

She crossed her arms, and tilted her head over to Yashiro's. She said something in her ear in a low voice. Yashiro made an evil looking grin, and then they both approached me. I was getting nervous.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked nervously. I backed up from them, but I couldn't escape fast enough before they jumped me and pinned me down to the floor. Yashiro was holding down my legs, and Uzuki was holding down my arms. She looked me in the eyes.

"Tell me the truth, Link!" she ordered.

"Okay! Fine! Just let me go!"

She released my arms a little bit, but still kept me down. I saw Shuto laughing in the corner of my eye. Mitsuhiro was smirking at me.

"What happened while we were gone?" Uzuki asked again.

"Fine, I'll tell you," I gasped. "I, uh, figured out how to use the Time Gate..."

Her expression turned to rage, her eyes looking like they were on fire. "You WHAT!" She tightened her grip on my arms.

"Well, I didn't think it was going to be such a big deal!" I screamed.

"It's dangerous to just figure out how to use it! You need the proper teachings! How did you figure it out!"

"Kon told me how to use it!"

Her expression changed to a blank, and she released my arms. She looked up at Kon, who was still sitting on the table.

"You told him?" she asked him. Yashiro released my legs.

"Sorry Uzuki, but he does have a right to know," Kon replied.

Uzuki sighed. "Sorry for freaking out on you there, Link. The Time Gate may be yours, but it's still dangerous to use. You need to know how to use it without screwing up. If you make one mistake with that book, your entire existence could be at stake." She stood up, grabbed my arm, and then pulled me up from the floor. Yashiro walked up next to Uzuki.

"So what time did you travel to anyways?" Yashiro asked me.

"I went back to the night of the carnival, the same night Mitsuhiro brought me to the Dark Realm for the first time. Oh yeah, I forgot one thing. I ran into a member of the Society there."

Shuto ran up to me. "Who was it?" he asked.

"Some girl called Xixion... uh..." I tried to remember her last name. Why were names in the Dark Realm so weird? "Kobayashi!" I finally said. "Xixion Kobayashi. She's also the fifth member at the Society."

"Okay, but what was she doing back there?" Mitsuhiro asked. "She wasn't there when I went to pick you up."

"She might have been on a mission," Shuto predicted.

"But that means... the Society got their hands on a Time Gate?" Yashiro yelled.

"That could be the case, but for now, we should just lay low," Mitsuhiro ordered. "Right now we have to pay attention to any weird things that happen throughout Hyrule and Termina."

Uzuki and Yashiro nodded.

"I think I'm going to go out training for a while," I muttered. "Anyone care to join me?"

"I have a bit of training I have to wrap up," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "I'll come along."

I hesitated for a moment. Mitsuhiro definitely wasn't the kind of guy I'd like to befriend, but considering that he was offering to train with me, I really couldn't reject it.

"Yeah, sure, if you want," I sighed. I opened the door and walked outside to the front yard. Mitsuhiro walked behind me.

"So what are you working on today?" he asked me. Something was definitely up with him.

"I'm training with my sword today. I haven't worked on it in quite a while, and I don't want to end up getting beaten at my own style of fighting."

Mitsuhiro chuckled under his breath. He reached to his back, and pulled out a long silver katana from his sheath. It was about the length of the bottom of his feet to his waist, and that was mostly the blade.

"Care to have a battle when you're finished?" he asked me.

"Sure, I guess," I replied. I pulled my sword from its sheath as well. We both walked to the backyard, and set up the dummies we used for training. They looked like scarecrows, except made from hay and straw, and with targets attached to their heads and bodies.

I gripped the handle of my sword with both my hands and charged at the dummy. I struck at its head, knocking the target clean off, and breaking it into pieces.

"Nice shot," Mitsuhiro said. He held his katana in his left hand, and ran to his dummy. He slashed his sword vertically, knocking all the targets off the front of it. He looked back at me with a smirk. "Think you can top that?" he challenged.

What was up with him today? He seemed... happier. And he was actually talking to me without adding insults.

"Come on, Fairy Boy," he snickered.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged back. "Watch this!" I took my blade and leaped into the air, striking the dummy all the way through its body. It split in half, straw and all. I looked back at Mitsuhiro. "What do you think of that?"

"Pretty impressive, for a fairy. But check this out." White metal began to form around his right arm, along with a white clock on his shoulder. The metal was jagged in some spots, and it formed around his fingers like they were mechanical. Multiple blades protruded from the sides. It reminded me of the mechanical arm Mikumo had. "This is my Time Distorter," Mitsuhiro explained. "Wanna see what I can do with it?" A butterfly fluttered past his head. He grabbed it with his fingers, crushing it beneath his mechanical skin. I could see twilight coming from his hand, and disappearing into the clock on his arm. He opened his hand, and the butterfly flew out, appearing to be unharmed.

"What did you do?" I asked curiously.

"That butterfly has ten seconds to live now," Mitsuhiro muttered. "Watch." I began to count down from ten, and as I hit zero, the butterfly's wings immediately stopped, and the insect fell to the ground, dissolving into twilight as it fell. "See?" Mitsuhiro said. "That's my ability to use time. I suck it out of a living being."

I lowered my eyes. I remembered Uzuki telling me about how Mitsuhiro had been jealous of my ability to control time. But Mitsuhiro never really showed it, not until now.

"Hey, wanna have that sword duel?" I asked him, breaking the silence that had formed between us.

"No, not anymore," he mumbled. "I think I'll wait until you're stronger. It'll make the fight more... enjoyable." The Time Distorter around his arm disappeared, and he put his katana back into his sheath. "We may have another mission come in, so be prepared, alright?"

"Sure, no problem," I muttered.

He smirked again, and then turned towards the house. "I'm looking forward to fighting you someday, Link," he said as he walked into the house.

**A Short Interlude**

Xixion sat before the rest of the members of the Society, shifting around in her chair from nervousness.

"So, sister, you ran into the Hero of Time, huh?" Ixion asked her in a sarcastic tone.

"Shut up Ixion," Xixion snapped. "I was back in time to gather information, and I just happened to run into that kid. He's as annoying as a cockroach, you can never get rid of him."

"Either way, you tried to bring him in? To the Society?" Mikumo asked. "Pretty good thinking, if I do say so myself, Xixion."

Xixion gave him a look of disgust. "Quit the jokes, Mikumo. You probably would have just jumped him. At least I thought ahead."

"Yes, you thought ahead, but he still managed to outwit you," Iwata added, who was sitting at the other end of the table. "When it comes to that boy, we must show no mercy. He's smarter and stronger than he looks."

Xixion became silent.

"Hey Iwata, what are the odds of getting Dex on our team?" Jun asked him. "We haven't checked the Mirror Sanctuary for him yet, and there hasn't been any reports about him. I say he's hiding."

"Like we said before, Dex is as stubborn as a mule," Luxerus stated. "There's no point in trying to force him to join us, but we should find a _reason_ for him to join us. Make him hate Link even more, and make him want to rise against him."

"Fine then, later on, I'll try and go find him," Jun gave in. "Goddess Din, if I had known this weirdo Shadow was gonna be such a hassle, I _never _would have agreed to accepting this mission..."

**Chapter 19 (continued)**

Yashiro held up several sheets of paper. "Alright, current mission is to get Link back to Hyrule and find the Mirror of Twilight."

Uzuki was sitting on the couch next to her. I sat on the armchair next to Shuto and Mitsuhiro. Kon, currently in his doll form, was resting against Mr. Mew's belly on the coffee table, snoring loudly.

"Is that the only mission?" Shuto asked.

"Well, there haven't been any strange reports of monsters, and since the last time I checked, everything looks to be in order, so I guess this is the only mission for now. Any questions?"

"Is this a solo mission?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"No, we're going to have someone accompany Link," Uzuki answered. We don't want him running into the Society all by himself. Things could get bad." She peered at Mitsuhiro. "What about you, Mitsuhiro? Why don't _you_ accompany him? You _are_ the strongest out of all of us."

Mitsuhiro cracked his knuckles. "Accompany Fairy Boy so he doesn't get his sorry ass kicked by the Society? I don't know..."

Uzuki held a red rupee at him. "Oh really? Mister dollar here says differently." Was she bribing him?

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

She held out at least six more red rupees. "How about now?"

Mitsuhiro grabbed the money. "Alright, you got your bodyguard." That was at least one hundred and forty rupees in cash. I didn't know Uzuki could be so devious. "Come on Link," Mitsuhiro growled at me. "We're going to Hyrule."

Uzuki smiled at me. "Good luck on the mission."

I smiled back, and grabbed my bag. I lifted the hood to my cloak over my face, and followed Mitsuhiro out the door.

"So, do you want me to open a shadow portal, or would you rather take the Mirror of Twilight back?" Mitsuhiro asked me.

I wanted to take the Mirror of Twilight, but I had this feeling that it wasn't the best idea. "Let's just take the shadow portal," I replied. What was this feeling of danger I had whenever I thought of taking the Mirror of Twilight?

"Are you sure? The Mirror of Twilight may be safer."

"No, I'm sure. It's quicker to just take a shadow portal."

"Alright, suit yourself." Mitsuhiro waved his arm, opening a shadow portal in front of us. He stepped through, and I followed. We walked through the darkness, until we arrived in the grassy fields of Hyrule, outside of Castle Town. Mitsuhiro pulled his hood over his face, and wrapped his red scarf around his mouth.

"Know this, if we do run into the Society, I won't be as strong as I usually am," Mitsuhiro warned. "I may be more used to the light, but that doesn't change the fact that my powers are weakened."

I nodded, and walked over the bridge leading to Castle Town. I could see the top of the Temple of Time towering over the market.

Mitsuhiro and I walked through the streets of Castle Town, both of us with our hoods up and our scarfs tied around the bottom halves of our faces. Some people stared at us as we walked by, but we paid no attention. This was what being a Time Keeper meant. Carrying out missions, and completing them without any hesitation, no matter what the task.

Mitsuhiro pulled out a small clock from his cloak. "It's five in the evening now," he muttered to me. "We should be back by six."

"Okay," I said. I turned the street corner, towards the Temple of Time, and began to walk up the stairs. Children were playing in the garden, but they all stopped to watch us as we went by. We walked up the stairs to the temple, and I pushed open the huge doors.

Mitsuhiro and I stepped inside, the bright sunlight from the stained glass windows penetrating our vision. I was getting too used to the Dark Realm. When my eyes adjusted, I pulled my hood down, and removed my scarf. Mitsuhiro kept his on.

"So, do you know where the Mirror is?" I asked him.

He rolled his eyes. "I figured you knew. You seemed like you knew what you were doing."

I groaned. We were never going to get back in the Dark Realm at this rate.

"Well, then, you look in here, I'll look outside," I said. I went back through the doors, and Mitsuhiro began walking through the halls of the temple. I looked all around the temple, searching for any extra doors or cracks in the walls that I could blow up. I pushed the thought of using bombs out of my mind, no matter how tempting it was. I'd probably get arrested for that.

I dragged my fingers against the brick wall as I walked, trying to see if anything was amiss. But, as usual, there was nothing different.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I heard a voice say. I froze. I was certain it was a guard from their serious tone, or whoever it was that looked after the temple. I slowly turned around.

It was the Deity.

"What the?" I yelled. "What are you doing here!"

He frowned. His white eyes peered at me. "I'm the guardian of this Mirror Sanctuary. I have no reason _not_ to be here."

"Mirror Sanctuary? So, the Mirror of Twilight is here?"

"Of course. It _is _the Temple of Time. Built to house the power of the Sacred Realm, the Master Sword, and the Mirror of Twilight."

"What about Dex? Have you seen any trace of him?"

"No, I haven't seen him. I heard he saved your butt from Mikumo Sato."

So that's his name. "Uh, yeah. That was the last time I saw him. Dex said we wouldn't see each other in a long time."

"Then a long time it will be. Dex usually keeps to his word. He's the guardian of the Mirror Sanctuary in the Twilight Realm."

"Dark Realm," I corrected.

"Twilight Realm, Dark Realm... I find it doesn't make a difference, they both exist for the same purpose."

"Uh, I'm just wondering one thing," I began. "How did you get out of the mask?"

"The Fierce Deity's Mask? When you used it, I was released. The mask then disappeared into twilight, never again to be used by a human being. I am not a fairy, just to let you know. I am a Deity."

"Like your name."

"Correct. Dex is a Shadow, although since he was born, he has always hated that name. So, he made up a name for himself, hence the name Dex."

"So, where is the Mirror of Twilight?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"In the tower, up there." The Deity pointed up, towards the tower that protruded from the roof of the temple.

"How do I get up there?" I asked. There were no stairs inside the temple.

The Deity turned away from me, and began to walk to the front of the temple. I followed him, and when he came to the front of the temple, he sighed.

"I see you've brought a companion," he muttered. He pointed at Mitsuhiro, who was examining the Spiritual Stones that were placed on their pedestal.

"That's Mitsuhiro Minamimoto," I muttered back. "He's a Reaper from the Dark Realm, but he's a good guy."

"Alright then." The Deity walked forward down the hall, and Mitsuhiro looked at him with a surprised look.

"Hey Link, who's this?" he asked me.

"This man is the guardian of this place," I explained. "He uh, also happens to be me..." How akward.

"Uh... okay," Mitsuhiro mumbled. "Uzuki can enlighten me on this theory when we get back. She's such a nerd..."

The Deity crossed his arms. "Shall we head upstairs then?" he said.

"Please," Mitsuhiro grumbled.

"Link, would you play the Song of Time for me?" the Deity asked me.

I nodded, and pulled my Ocarina of Time from my bag. I put it to my lips, and played the Song of Time. The Triforce symbol above the Door of Time began to glow yellow, and the door moved upwards, until it was open.

"Thank you," the Deity muttered as he walked into the chamber. Mitsuhiro and I followed him, and we walked up to the pedestal that was holding the Master Sword. "Beautiful blade, isn't it?" the Deity asked. "It has enough power to destroy any evil that may befall Hyrule. You're going to need to use it again sometime, Link. When the evil reaches a peak of devastation, of course."

I walked to the sword, bent down onto my knees, and examined its blade, the light reflecting off the metal like a beautiful glass. Looking at it, it made me feel like it was an old friend. I stood back up, and turned to the Deity.

"So, where's the Mirror of Twilight?" I asked.

He walked past the Master Sword, approaching the grand window that shone its light down on the chamber. He clasped his palms together, and out of nowhere, a staircase made of light appeared from the window. They path glittered, and stretched from the window to where the Deity was standing. He released his hands, and looked at us.

"Well? Do you want to head up to the tower?" he asked.

I walked up next to him, and stepped onto the path. It felt like I was stepping on an unbreakable glass pathway. I walked up it, the Deity coming from behind me, and Mitsuhiro coming last. When we reached the window, it disappeared, revealing another staircase. The steps were blue, and they made a sharp left turn once they started. I carefully stepped onto them, and began to walk up, careful not to fall into the endless darkness around me. When I looked ahead, I noticed that the steps circled around like a giant spiral heading upwards. I looked up to see where they ended. They just headed up into darkness.

I sighed, and began walking up the stairs, making sure to keep Mitsuhiro and the Deity in my sight from behind so I wouldn't lose them. Getting lost in this place was the _last _thing I wanted to do. I kept walking up the stairs, certain that the staircase would end soon. They only thing I could hear was the sound of our feet hitting against the steps.

"How much longer, Deity?" I asked him, turning around to meet his gaze.

"Just a few more steps," he replied.

I sighed, and kept walking. Finally, I found a white door. It was a double-door, with blue designs that looked similar to vines embedded on it. I looked back to the Deity. He nodded. I grabbed the blue handles, and pulled the doors open. A burst of light shone from the door. I squinted, blinded by the light, until it disappeared. I waited for my vision to return to normal, and then I examined the new room.

A huge bell was mounted onto the ceiling, and in front of it, was the Mirror of Twilight. It was identical to the Mirror of Twilight in the Dark Realm. It sat upon a stand, on top of another platform.

"Finally!" I sighed. Goddess Nayru help me if I had to walk up those stairs again!

"Excuse me for a second, Link, but I have to take care of something first," the Deity said. He walked forward to the bell, and grabbed the rope that hung from the inside of it. He pulled it, and the bell rang, its sound booming inside of the small room. It rang six times.

"Sorry for the interruption, but I had to ring the bell for six o'clock. I ring it every hour," the Deity explained. "There was a wise man who looked after this bell for years, but he died a little while ago. I took the liberty of taking over for him."

I nodded, and turned to the mirror. "Mitsuhiro, could you activate this for me?" I asked him.

"Sure, whatever," he mumbled, and placed his hand against the mirror. Light burst from the other side, and formed a round design against the bell. A small design of the Triforce was in the middle, and around it floated strange symbols and letters.

"Thanks for the help, Deity," I said to him as I approached the pedestal.

"Always happy to help, Link," he replied. "If you need me, you know where to find me." He smiled.

I smiled back, and then stepped onto the pedestal next to Mitsuhiro. I watched my body dissolve into bits of light, and watched the Deity disappear into a glow of yellow. When the light disappeared, I found myself lying on my back in the middle of a road. I stood up, and dusted myself off.

"Link! Get out of the way, you idiot!"

I turned to see Mitsuhiro jumping at me, and pushing me onto the other side of the street. A strange mechanical car flew past us both. It zoomed down the street. I fell onto my back. Mitsuhiro looked down at me in disgust.

"What the hell was that?" I screamed.

"They're testing more cars in the streets again," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "What bastards."

I remembered that Mitsuhiro had died because one of the cars had gone out of control.

I looked up. Where was I? Buildings shot up above us. The road was made of black brick, similar to Castle Town. Most of the buildings appeared to be made of metal and brick.

"Where are we?" I asked Mitsuhiro.

"This is our city," he said. "It's really the only one in the Dark Realm. I live with Shuto, Uzuki, and Yashiro in the outskirts. This place is just too crowded for us."

I looked around the streets. People were running around, all of them having Reaper wings sprouting from their backs. I knew there were probably a lot of Reapers, but I didn't imagine _this_ many.

"Come on, let's get off the street before you get hit," Mitsuhiro urged. "Unlike me, you can actually get killed by them."

I shuddered, and stepped onto the sidewalk.

"Pull your hood back up."

I did as he instructed. I also wrapped my scarf back around my face.

"Come on, we should head back to the base."

I followed him down the streets of the city. "So, what is this city called anyways?" I asked him.

"Selgaria."

We kept walking down the streets. I looked at the Reapers that passed me by. Half the population pretty much had black or dirty-blond hair, the other half had crazier colors, like red, green, even blue. They all wore dark clothing too.

We finally reached a huge gate, which was guarded by two Reapers. They held their spears across the door.

"State reason for leaving," the man on the left ordered.

Mitsuhiro rubbed his chin. "I'm reporting to the Society. I've obtained the object they are looking for."

The other man nodded, and moved his spear. The other did the same. The gate opened. Mitsuhiro and I walked through.

When we passed through the gate, I looked to my right to see the Mirror Sanctuary of the Dark Realm rising through the sky, far off in the distance. Dex was its guardian, like the Deity was the guardian of the Temple of Time. I looked at the tower of the sanctuary. I could see someone sitting there. I was positive it was Dex.

As I walked back to the base with Mitsuhiro, I made a promise to myself.

I would become stronger.

I would defeat Dex.


	20. Back at Lon Lon Ranch

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 20: Back at Lon Lon Ranch**

"Ready, Link?" Yashiro asked, her palms facing towards me.

"Anytime," I answered. I punched at her hands, making sure each strike was quick and hard.

Yashiro pulled her hands back for a second. "Wow, you're getting stronger," she complimented. She showed me her palms; they were already red from my fists.

I smiled, and held up my fists, ready to continue. Yashiro held her palms back up, and I practiced my punching for the next three hours.

When we were done, Yashiro rubbed her hands against her jeans. She was laughing.

"That's impressive," she said. "My hands are getting a bit sore. Have you been secretly training or something?"

"Maybe," I laughed. My knuckles began to hurt like hell.

Yashiro eyed my sore red fists. "You know, wearing bandages around your hands and knuckles can prevent them from hurting so much when you punch."

I nodded, and shoved my hands into my pockets.

"By the way, Yashiro, what weapon were you using back when we were fighting Barinade?" I asked.

"The kunai gun?"

"No, the sword."

She smirked, and pulled the blade from its sheath. The entire sword was black, including the sharp blade itself.

"This sword is my pride and joy," she laughed. "I received it with my kunai gun when I became a Reaper. Pretty kick-ass, huh?"

I was surprised she could even walk around with that thing on her back. It was bigger than she was. Then again, she did have super strength. Maybe it didn't affect her. She could even hold it over her shoulder without flinching. I felt like I was being cut by the blade right now, just by looking at it.

"So, just how strong are you anyways?" I asked. I had been wanting to ask her that question for a while.

Yashiro put her blade back into its sheath, and walked over to a nearby tree. She grabbed a huge limb that was growing from the tree, and she moved her arm back, tearing it from the bark. The branch was _twice _the size she was. She just held it over her shoulder, the same way she held her sword.

"Does this answer your question?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

"That's... amazing," I gasped.

"Of course, I still have a limit. Lifting up school buses, and things like that are a bit harder. This branch is pretty light though."

I could only imagine what it would look like when she lifted up a bus. But wait, since when did the need arrive when Yashiro would have to lift a _bus_?"

Uzuki appeared from the backyard, holding a cup of coffee. She walked up to Yashiro. She passed Yashiro a small plastic bag. Yashiro's face lit up.

"Spicy quesadilla chips!" she screeched. "Thank you, Uzuki-chan!"

"No problem Yashiro-chan," Uzuki giggled. She took a sip from her coffee. "Blech, it's disgusting..."

"Then quit drinking it, you moron!" Yashiro yelled, her expression changing from happy to mad.

"I can't help it, it's so good!"

"That doesn't make sense!"

"_You_ don't make sense!"

"Uh, Uzuki, Yashiro, can we stop?" I asked them, cutting in on their little argument.

"Battle!" Yashiro declared, and jumped Uzuki, knocking her to the ground and spilling her coffee all over the ground. Yashiro punched at Uzuki.

Uzuki caught her fist. "You spilled my coffee! How dare you! You're gonna pay for that!" She twisted Yashiro's arm, and threw her across the grass.

"Okay, I want no part of this," I muttered, and backed up from them. I turned around, and began running towards the house. Shuto was sitting on the steps.

"What are they fighting over this time?" Shuto asked me as I approached the steps.

"Yashiro thinks it's stupid that Uzuki drinks coffee, even though she hates it. I asked them to quit fighting, and then Yashiro declared a battle. Now they're killing each other."

Shuto tilted his head as he watched the two friends brawl it out with their fists and feet. "I don't know, it looks like Yashiro is going easy on Uzuki. Oh well, that's just the way they show that they're friends."

"Pretty stupid way if you ask me."

"Oh really? What friends do you have?"

"Well, there's Saria, and Zelda, and all the Kokiri back in the forest. Malon, Epona, you guys..."

"So how do you show your friendship with Malon?"

"We'd race our horses. We'd talk to each other while I helped her with farmwork."

"What about Saria?"

"We're childhood friends, I've known her since I first arrived in the Kokiri Forest."

"Well, I'm guessing you'd be good friends with Epona, even if she is a horse. You treat her well. What about Zelda? You don't see her often, yet you two seem to be really close."

"I saved her from Ganondorf when we were older. Also, I was the only one who'd listen to her and believe in her ideals when we were younger."

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. But I can't go back to see her, not yet. The Reapers are after me. I don't want to be in Hyrule, and then they end up attacking me. That would just put her in danger."

Shuto smiled, and stood up from the steps. "You should send her a letter sometime. Let her know that you're alright."

"That's a good idea, I'll do that sometime." I turned around to look at Uzuki and Yashiro, who were still fighting each other. "Hey Shuto, I'm getting kinda sick of watching them fight. Is there any way we can stop them?"

Shuto held his hand out, and light began to emanate. His flute appeared from the light. "Come on," he instructed, and walked over to the girls.

"What are you gonna do?"

Shuto held the flute to his lips, and blew into it. A shrill note blew from it, and Uzuki and Yashiro fell to the ground, covering their ears.

"What the hell was that for?" Yashiro screamed.

"Not so loud!" Uzuki yelled. "Are you _trying_ to make us go deaf?" They both stood up from the ground.

"You both asked for it!" Shuto scolded. "Quit your fighting! Act like friends for once!"

Uzuki sighed. "Sorry..."

Yashiro cracked her knuckles. "But we were having fun!"

"It won't be much fun when all your bones are broken and you're in the hospital! Go do something else that's fun, like drawing, or writing, or listening to music! Play some baseball, play a game of cards, anything that doesn't cause any physical harm!"

"Well, I guess we could do some training," Yashiro grumbled. "Cause we gotta perfect dummy right here!" She eyed Shuto.

"Yashiro! Don't even think about it!" Shuto yelled.

She approaced him with her fists, smirking, but Shuto played another high note, sending her back down to the ground.

"Now, I'm gonna keep doing this until you two think of something else besides fighting!" He played a high note again. "Come on, move it! Inside the house!" Uzuki and Yashiro began walking to the house. Shuto played another note. "Faster! I want to see you running!"

"Sheesh, grumpy," Uzuki muttered.

"I know, right?" Yashiro grumbled back.

"Hey! No backtalk!" Shuto yelled, and played an extremely high note. "Keep moving! Get inside!"

When they were inside the house, Shuto turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Okay, I gotta admit that was cool," I said.

"Works every time," Shuto laughed.

We all sat in a circle at the table, each of us holding cards in our hands. We had been playing Old Maid with Uzuki and Yashiro since Shuto had given them the sound treatment. They couldn't play with only two people, so I decided to join them. Pretty soon, Shuto joined, and then finally Mitsuhiro, because he said he didn't have anything else better to do.

I took a card from Shuto, and then set the pairs down. I had three cards left; I was winning.

"Maybe if I didn't have this stupid joker card, then maybe I wouldn't be losing right now!" Uzuki complained. "But no! Instead, I end up getting the joker card at the beginning of each and every game, and I always end up stuck with it until I _lose_!"

"Here. I need one of your cards," Mitsuhiro muttered. He took a card from her hand, and smiled. "There you go, you're free." He had the joker now.

"Wha-? Uh, thanks Mitsuhiro."

Mitsuhiro shuffled his cards. "Your turn Yashiro."

Yashiro took a card from his deck, and then placed down a pair. She was tied with me right now.

I took a card from Yashiro. "Aha, I win!" I declared.

"Lucky," Yashiro grumbled.

"Luck has nothing to do with it."

"Actually, I hate to burst your bubble, Fairy Boy," Mitsuhiro interrupted. "No wait, I _love_ bursting your bubble. Anyways, this game is based _entirely_ on luck. Don't even _think _you have any skills at it."

"Then how come I just won?" I said back.

"Because you were lucky."

I groaned, and watched the rest of the game. Mitsuhiro ended up getting in second, Yashiro in third, and Uzuki lost.

"It doesn't matter whether or not I have the joker, I always lose!" Uzuki complained. She handed twenty rupees over to me. "Here, you won the bet for this game."

"Thank you," I said sarcastically, and put the money in my wallet.

"Shut up," Uzuki muttered.

"You know Uzuki, maybe you shouldn't play," Shuto laughed. "You'll be broke by the end of the day!"

"But it's so fun! I keep making bets on this stupid game, and then I lose it all, but that's what drives me to play it again with the hopes of winning!"

"Well, I guess it could be worse," Mitsuhiro muttered. "She could be betting all of her cash at the casino or something."

"I'm not that addicted. Old Maid is pretty much the only card game I know how to play, next to Go Fish and Sevens. But I don't understand Sevens very well, which probably explains why I lose a lot. I'm better at Go Fish, but that game is too _easy._"

"Wanna take a break then?" I asked. "We should check if there are any missions."

"Good idea, we haven't checked on Hyrule in a while," Yashiro said.

Uzuki pulled a strange mechanical ring from her pocket. It was about the size of her finger. She set it on the table, and a huge screen came up from it, showing the land of Hyrule. They had shown me this device a few days earlier, but I had never seen them use it for tracking before.

"Alright, Kakariko seems to be in order...," Uzuki mumbled. "Castle Town is fine, Lon Lon Ranch is fine, same with Death Mountain and Zora's Domain..." She sighed. "There's nothing out of the ordinary!"

I groaned, and dropped my head to the table. "Boring," I sighed. I thought executing missions was fun. It was just the matter of _finding _a mission to do, which sometimes took a while.

"What can we do then?" I asked, setting my chin against the table.

"You can train," Shuto suggested.

"Nah, I'm too worn out."

"Well, how about we have a drawing contest?" Uzuki asked.

"Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. "We all know who would win."

Uzuki giggled.

"I'll probably end up writing in my Time Gate," I muttered. "Then I might head back to Hyrule."

"Do you think it's safe?" Yashiro asked me. "The Society could come after you."

"I'm not going to be his bodyguard again," Mitsuhiro cut in. "No matter how much you pay me!"

"Don't worry Mitsuhiro," Uzuki hushed. "I'm sure Link can take care of himself this time."

"I hope so," I said. "I don't want to get pounded by Mikumo Sato again."

Miu and Kon jumped onto the table.

"Hey Link, can I come along too?" Kon asked.

"I think you should stay here," I warned. "It might be too dangerous for you."

"But I'm a mighty warrior!"

I sighed. "Kon, I think it would be best if you just stayed here. The rest of the Time Keepers might need you."

Kon pouted.

"Come on Kon," Uzuki said to him. "Cheer up! I could always use your help here with my experiments!"

Kon's face lit up, and he jumped into Uzuki's arms.

"Oh, thank you Uzuki!" he laughed, wrapping his doll arms around her neck.

"No problem. You can help me and Yashiro-chan."

I stood up from the table, and pulled my bag over my shoulder. Miu jumped into my bag.

"You don't mind if Mr. Mew stays with you, do you?" Shuto asked me.

"Of course not," I replied. "On one condition... why did you name her Mr. Mew if you knew she was a girl?"

"Well, do you remember when we told you she would someday transform into a human?" Shuto asked.

"Yes."

"Well, if we're still alive when she evolves, we're not sure if she'll still be a girl. So, we gave her two names, just in case."

"I don't think the gender is going to change when she evolves."

"You never know," Uzuki said, shrugging her shoulders. She waved her arm, and a shadow portal formed against the wall.

I approached the black hole, and turned my gaze to the Time Keepers.

"See you later guys," I said, and jumped into the portal.

I arrived in Lon Lon Ranch.

**A Short Interlude**

Jun flew across the black twilight-stained lake, the beat from his wings rippling the water below him. He landed at on the grassy area near the Mirror Sanctuary.

"Alright, let's get this over with," he muttered to himself. He could see Dex sitting at the top of the tower. "Keeping watch, are we?" Jun flapped his wings, and flew up the side of the tower, dragging his feet along the brick. When he reached the top, he sat down next to Dex.

"Nice night, isn't it?" Jun asked Dex, trying to get on his good side.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Dex hissed. "Your kind doesn't belong here. This place is a sanctuary."

"Actually, I believe that the only species in the Dark Realm are Reapers. You can't just ban us from this place. You're the only Shadow here."

Dex frowned. "I don't care. I've sworn to protect this place. What do you want anyways?"

"Well, I was hoping for your allegiance. With the Society."

Dex clenched his fists, and gritted his teeth. "I work alone."

"And just what are you working on, exactly?"

Dex didn't have a comeback for that one. "I'm on an important mission. I don't need you Society punks getting in my way."

"You sure seemed determined, wasting your hours up here. You should be going out there, getting your revenge on Link."

"He already defeated me once."

"When he was an _adult_. He's just a puny kid now. You can beat the crap outta him."

Dex released his fists, and relaxed himself. "And if I join you? What do I get in return?"

"Well, when _you_ capture Link and bring him in to the Society, we can probably awaken the dark side out of him. That would awaken you, wouldn't it?"

Dex took out his black sunglasses from his pocket, and put them over his eyes.

"Deal."

**Chapter 20 (continued)**

Malon passed me the hay, and I set it in front of the horses in the barn. I pet their manes as they happily ate their food. They couldn't stay outside very long because it was January, and there was still snow outside, and it would probably stay that way until the end of February.

"Thanks for your help today," Malon said. "All this farm work is pretty hard when you're working on your own, especially in the winter."

"No problem," I replied. "You're letting me stay here for the night, so it's the least I can do. By the way, where's your dad?"

"Ugh, he went to deliver milk to the castle. He probably fell asleep again." Malon laughed and hugged Epona's neck.

I laughed along with her joke. Talon did have a bad habit of falling asleep during deliveries. That was probably why Malon or Ingo did the deliveries most of the time.

"Is there anything else you need help with?" I asked Malon.

"All the chores are done! Besides, you've done enough work for today. Want some hot chocolate?"

I nodded. It was pretty cold, even in the barn. I put on the jacket Byrne had given me, and buttoned it up tight. I hadn't told Malon about the Reapers. I hadn't had a chance to. The moment I walked past the gate, she had her arms wrapped around me. She hadn't seen me since I left for Termina. So, instead of telling her about the Reapers, I lied and told her I had returned from my journey, and that I wanted a place to stay for a few nights. Of course, being Malon, she couldn't refuse. I had done her the favor of looking after Epona, so she said it was fine for me to stay as long as I wanted.

Malon came back into the barn with two cups of hot chocolate. She smiled as she handed one to me. It smelled delicious. I took a sip from the drink, and it immediately warmed me up. I sat down in the hay.

"Thanks again for letting me stay here," I said again.

"It's no trouble!" Malon giggled. "I really don't mind! You've been away for three years! I'm so happy that you're back!"

I laughed, and took another sip from my hot chocolate. I watched the horses as they ate their hay. Epona was with them too. Malon sat next to me on the hay, and drank from her hot chocolate. She still looked the same, only a bit taller. Her hair was still orange, with a hint of brown. She had big blue eyes that sparkled when she was happy. She had an amazing smile.

It was around six o'clock at night now. Where was her father? I knew he liked to nap, but it wasn't like him to take _this _long. When I finished my hot chocolate, I stood up from the hay.

"Malon, I'm gonna head out to Castle Town to look for your dad," I said. I grabbed Epona's reins, and pulled her along to the door.

"You'd better hurry then," Malon warned. "The doors close at sunset. You only have a few hours."

I nodded, and mounted Epona. I lead her through the doors, and stepped out onto the field.

"Be careful Link! It's dangerous at night!" Malon shouted as I ran out past the gates, and into the Hyrule field.

I kicked Epona's sides, trying to make her go faster so that I would make it in time. I didn't want to miss the chance to get over the drawbridge, and I _definitely_ didn't want to get caught out here in the dark with nothing but Stalchildren.

After traveling for a few minutes, the tip of Hyrule Castle finally came into view. I could see the walls surrounding Castle Town, and the water that flowed around it. I pulled Epona to a stop as we reached the drawbridge. I jumped off her, and ran over the drawbridge, into Castle Town.

"Where are you Talon?" I said to myself, trying to locate him in the crowds of people. I finally saw him resting near a food booth. I ran over to him, and gently shook him, trying to wake him up. But it was no use. The guy slept like a rock. I looked around, and saw a nearby cuccoo. I grabbed it, causing it to freak out and peck at me. I held it away from me so that it couldn't peck me, and then I brought it over to Talon. I hit the cuccoo, and it began to cluck loudly. Really loudly.

"Wha?" Talon yelled, awaking from his slumber. "What was that?"

I threw the chicken down, and it flew away, into the crowd. "Talon! Wake up! Malon is waiting for you back at the farm!" I yelled at him.

"Oh no, Malon is gonna let me have it for this one!" he screamed, and took off for the gate to Castle Town. Man, for a lazy guy, he sure could run fast when he needed to.

When I crossed the drawbridge and mounted Epona, the bridge went up to cut off the path to the town. Just in time.

It was dark out, and I would expect to see the Stalchildren rising from the depths soon, or wherever it was they came from.

I kicked Epona in the sides, guiding her along the path towards the ranch. As I traveled though, it didn't seem as dark as I thought. The sun was already set, but something else was illuminating the night sky.

Something bright.

Something red.

Something that I knew wasn't good.

I began to panic, and kicked Epona harder for her to move faster. I gasped as I reached the ranch.

It was in flames.

I jumped off Epona, who was panicking even more than me now, and I sprinted into the ranch. It was mostly the houses that got the worst so far. I saw Talon and Ingo on their knees, watching the flames as they devoured their farmhouses.

"Talon!" I screamed. I ran up next to him. Everything here felt so hot, so dry... it made it hard to breath.

"Link...," he cried. "I don't... believe it..."

"What happened!" I yelled.

"I came back here... and this man came up to me... he demanded to see you... and then he set this place to flames..."

The Society.

This mess was all my fault.

"Tell me, who was it!" I asked.

He pointed at the roof of the barn. I looked up to see a man clothed in a black robe, the hood pulled over his face. I tried to see his eyes, but they were covered over by black sunglasses. I couldn't tell who it was. But I could see him smirk at me, and then he disappeared in a black blur.

"Dammit...," I cried. Malon's family had worked so hard here... and I destroyed it... but, where was Malon! I turned to Talon. "Talon! Where's your daughter!"

His expression became blank with horror. "She's... still in the house..."

I looked at the house. It was close to ruins, the flames bursting from it like fireworks.

Malon was still in there.

She could be dead by now.

I got rid of the thoughts of her being dead from my mind, and wiped my forehead. I stared down the house and the flames. I took a step towards the building.

"Wait, Link, you're not going in there, are you?" Ingo screamed.

"Malon is in there," I said in a low voice. "I can't just leave her there!"

I ignored Ingo's pleas, and jumped into the building.


	21. Awakened

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 21: Awakened**

I really don't know what I was thinking.

Beams of wood from the ceiling were falling down because of the flames, and the fire was spread out in the entire house.

But I had to find Malon.

I carefully walked across the floor, trying not to step on any flames. It was hot in here, and hard for me to breath, but I couldn't leave, not until I found Malon.

"Malon!" I yelled, hoping to get a response.

Nothing.

"Malon!" I yelled again. I walked up the stairs to the second floor, hoping she would be in her room. I kicked the door open, only to reveal flames destroying the bedroom. There was literally no path for me to go through.

"Malon!" I yelled for the third time.

"L...ink...," I heard a soft voice say. I knew it was Malon, but she didn't sound so good. Her voice sounded cracked.

I ran through the flames, trying to find her, and then I finally located her underneath a beam of wood. I jumped over the flames, until I had made it to her. She reached her hand out to me. I could tell she was in a lot of pain.

"L...ink...," she cried. "Help...me..."

I took no hesitation, and grabbed the beam from her back. It was extremely heavy, but I managed to throw it off her anyways. Adrenaline? When I threw the beam away, I grabbed Malon's hand, and pulled her up.

"I... can't...," Malon cried in pain. Blood was running down her back. I lifted her up, carrying her body across my arms, and carefully made my way across the flames. Guessing by the way she cringed when I carried her, I took a guess that her back was broken. Her body just flopped over on my arms, and she didn't seem to have much control over her spine.

"Don't worry Malon, we'll be out of here soon," I hushed.

"Link... it hurts..."

I carried her over the flames, but by now I knew that I was severely burned. I couldn't feel it though. All I could feel was the weight of Malon's body on my arms, and the heat around me.

When I reached the staircase, it was all covered in flames. I had no choice. I jumped off the side of the stairs, landing in a row of flames. I could feel the heat surround my legs, and sting my skin. I ignored it, and made my way across the living room, which was pretty much in ruins now.

I carefully stepped around the flames, trying to ignore the stinging pain that went through my legs when I walked. Malon looked unconscious now.

When I made it to the door, I leaped over the flames, landing in the grass outside the house. I gently set Malon on the ground in front of Talon and Ingo, who were still waiting for me.

"Malon! Is she alright?" Talon panicked.

"She's just...unconscious...," I coughed. The heat inside the house had taken a lot of air out of me. "Careful... I think she... broke her back..." I couldn't take it anymore. I was so exhausted.

I felt the world around me turn black, and I fell to the ground.

**A Short Interlude**

"Goddess Nayru! Yashiro, Mitsuhiro, Shuto, we have to get down there!" Uzuki screamed at the Time Keepers. "Lon Lon Ranch is in flames, and Link is there!" She anxiously tapped her fingers against the ring that showed an image of the burning ranch.

"What happened?" Shuto demanded.

"I don't know! I saw Link leave the ranch towards Castle Town, and then about twenty minutes later, it burst into flames!"

"What are we standing around here for then!" Yashiro yelled. "Let's get down there!" She opened a shadow portal against the wall.

"What I want to know is how this mess happened," Mitsuhiro said calmly. "Someone must have been there while Link was away. Possibly the Society."

"If it _is_ the Society, then we can't waste any time!" Uzuki growled at him.

Mitsuhiro kept his calm expression as he headed towards the portal, and stepped through. Uzuki and Shuto followed, and then Yashiro, who closed the portal after they all stepped through.

**Chapter 21 (continued)**

I opened my eyes to see the Reapers standing before me. I could still see flames. I was still at Lon Lon Ranch.

"Is he alright?" I heard Yashiro ask.

"He doesn't look so good," Uzuki muttered. "We have to get out of here."

I lifted myself up from the ground. The only thing that hurt the most was when I was breathing, and my legs. When I was on my feet, I nearly fell over again, but Mitsuhiro caught me before I began to fall.

"Hey, don't push yourself, Fairy Boy," Mitsuhiro grumbled.

"Where's... Malon?" I asked. It even hurt when I tried to speak.

"Would you shut up? She's fine. Shuto is looking after her. Don't talk, it'll just make you feel worse." He handed me a red potion and I drank it, healing some of my wounds. I still felt horrible though.

"Link, do you know what happened here?" Uzuki asked me in a soft voice.

"While I was gone... someone came to the ranch... they... wanted to see me... Talon and Ingo refused... and the person set this place to flames..."

"Ugh, it's the damn Society again!" Yashiro yelled. "Those bastards! Destroying these places just to fulfill their little missions!"

"Yashiro, calm down," Mitsuhiro hushed. "We'll find the person who did this, we just need to heal Link a little bit."

"Well, those idiots had better be prepared to meet me and my steel rings!" She held up her right fist, revealing multiple steel rings on her fingers.

"We'll find them," Uzuki snapped. She turned back to me. "Can you walk Link?"

"I-I think so...," I stammered. Mitsuhiro released me, and I took a step forward. I felt dizzy, but I could walk. I looked around at the flames that were devouring the farmhouses and fields. This was all my fault, and I couldn't do anything about it.

"Link, are you alright?" Yashiro asked me. I realized I was frowning.

"Wha? Yeah, I'm fine." I most certainly _wasn't_ fine. I wanted to find the bastard that did this. "Come on, we should get out of here," I urged.

Mitsuhiro nodded, and we walked out from the devastated ranch. Talon carried Malon as he followed us, and Ingo walked next to him. I could tell they were both mad at the person who had caused this mess.

They were mad at me.

When we stepped outside the gate, and onto the grass that wasn't covered in flames, I fell to the ground. I pounded the grass with my fists.

"This mess... is... all my fault!" I screamed. Uzuki and Yashiro came over to help me.

"Now, don't go thinking this is your fault!" Yashiro scolded. "It was the Society that put this place in flames, not you!"

"Yashiro's right," Uzuki said softly as she bent down to help me. "Don't blame yourself."

"But... they were looking for me... if I had been here, or have never come here in the first place... maybe this wouldn't be happening right now..." I felt like I was close to tears. I wanted to just scream.

"Get it together, Fairy Boy!" Mitsuhiro yelled at me. "If you had been here, the Society would have definitely gotten their hands on you! You know what that means, right? It means that all we worked for would be wasted, and that Ganondorf would be resurrected! How would you feel if that happened! It would be more than just Malon in pain. It would be the entire land of Hyrule! Your friends from the Kokiri forest, the Zoras, the Gorons... Princess Zelda! Everything you did would be useless!" He held his head low, and clenched his hands into fists. "If you give up, you're just as pathetic as the enemy."

I lowered my head to the ground. He was right. But what could I do? If I had given myself up to the enemy, I would be dead by now. I pulled a shuriken out from my holster with my left hand, and pulled out my sword with my right.

"The Society... obviously didn't find me...," I said in a low voice. "He's still here... where is he!" I jumped up and held my sword close to my body in defense. "Come on out, I'm right here!"

"Link, are you nuts?" Shuto screamed. "You can't take on the Society! They're too strong!"

"Just watch me."

I waited, keeping my sword up to defend myself, and my shurikens hidden underneath my palm. I literally just wanted to tear those fools limb from limb.

I felt like a Reaper.

But something wasn't right. I didn't feel... _me_. I felt different. My entire body felt hot, like it had felt from the flames, but it didn't feel like that kind of heat. It felt like revenge. But... it wasn't my feeling. It was somebody else feeling this. But how could that be possible?

Suddenly, a tornado of darkness burst from the flames, and landed only a few feet in front of me. The shadows that circled around the base of the tornado began to disappear, revealing a heavily cloaked person.

"You...," I hissed. I prepared my sword. "You did this!"

The person crossed their arms. "Hello Link," he said. His voice sounded somewhat familiar. "Pleased to meet you again." He raised his left arm, and a black sword appeared in his gloved hand. It looked to be made of dragon scales.

"What do you want from me!"

"Well, that's sort of a vague question to ask, don't ya think? I want _you_, and that precious blood that runs through your veins."

"What's so special about _my_ blood?"

"Again with the vague questions! The Soul inside your blood is immense! It's unlike anything we've ever seen! But you know, I've already said too much already."

"Tell me!"

"You want me to tell you? Come with me then."

I growled, and leaped at the man with my blade. But when I struck down, he disintegrated into shadows.

"Link! Look out!" Uzuki screamed.

I felt a sharp pain hit my back, and I fell to the ground. I looked up to see the man standing there. There was no blood on his sword, so I could tell he hadn't hit me with it. Thank the Goddess. The last thing they needed was my blood. But what did he mean when he said the Soul in my blood was immense? That didn't make much sense.

I stood up and held my sword back at him.

"Persistent little runt, huh?" the man laughed. I _still _couldn't tell who it was. He held his blade back up. "Well, I wanna enjoy this battle, so I'll go easy on you. Come on, give it all you got."

I charged at him, and swung my sword. He reacted quickly, and our swords clashed against one another. I looked at Uzuki and the others: something was holding them back from helping me. Strange beings were coming out from the ground, and battling the others.

I could tell the Time Keepers couldn't take much more, not without the darkness of the twilight to support them. They were going to be in trouble real soon.

I pushed my blade against the man's, and eventually, my hold on the handle broke, and I fell to the ground. My sword flew from my hands, landing across from me. I couldn't reach it in time. I jumped to my feet as the man's sword came down on me, and I blocked it with my windmill shuriken, which was still folded up. Amazingly, I had been able to foresee the man's attacks, and then pull out the shuriken fast enough to block it. The sword clanged against the metal of the shuriken.

"Impressive," he muttered. He put more pressure onto the sword, causing me to lower to the ground. I couldn't hold the shuriken up much longer. I had to think fast.

I immediately took my free hand and grabbed a star shuriken from my holster. I flung it at the man, causing him to turn to dodge it. I took that opportunity to swing my leg across the grass, tripping him up and sending him to the ground. As he landed, I ran and grabbed my sword, and then aimed it at the man's body that was lying in the grass.

He was laughing.

"You still cease to amaze me, Link!" he laughed. "You've gotten stronger since the last time I fought you!" He stood up, using his blade to support himself. I prepared my sword for another battle.

But he put his sword away, and rolled up his long black sleeves.

"Of course, this means that I can't use weapons on you. I'm going to have to resort to some other tricks..." He clasped his palms together, and boulders rose from the ground, forming a wall around us. Strange black mirrors were placed on the inside of the rock.

"What?" I screamed to myself. I couldn't do anything else before the man turned back into a cloud of shadows, and began to fly around me. I couldn't tell where he was. That was the purpose of the black mirrors. They all looked like the shadows around him, and it just made my head spin when I looked at all the mirrors at the same time.

I had to focus.

I could hear the man's evil laughter around me, but where was he? This was getting way to intense! I felt scared... scared that he would hit me at any moment. Was I going to live through this? I wanted somebody here with me... anybody, just to help me through this battle.

I held my sword up, and tried to focus on the one shadow. Goddess Farore, I wish that the Time Keepers were with me right now. Were they even safe?

"What are you waiting for, Fairy Boy?" the man mocked. When he said Fairy Boy, I immediately thought it was Mitsuhiro talking. But sadly, it wasn't. "Can't find me? Too bad, I guess you're not as strong as I thought!"

I growled, and tried to find a place he'd move to next. When I saw a shadow form near another mirror, I leaped and struck down. The mirror shattered into a million pieces, but other than that, there was nothing.

"You can do better than _that_!" the man snickered.

I decided to hit all the areas at once, so I pulled out multiple star shurikens, and flung them at all the mirrors where I thought he was. They all shattered, but still no result in actually hitting the guy. But then I realized, the more mirrors I destroyed, the higher the chance was that I would actually find him and not a reflection. But there were _hundreds_ of mirrors. I didn't have that many shurikens.

Then I got an idea.

I clasped my palms together, and then struck my right palm against the ground. "Din's Fire!" I screamed. A circle of flames rose around me, and then spread out, destroying all the mirrors that were surrounding us. The flames didn't seem to affect the shadow itself though. That didn't matter. I could actually see him now. I released my windmill shuriken from its lock, opening up the four sharp blades from the ring in the middle.

I focused some of my magic to it, and then threw it at the shadow. I knew it wouldn't hit though, so that's why I attached some of my magic to it. _Left_, I thought to myself, warming up my magic inside me. _Right. Down_. The shuriken followed my orders, and it flew around the rocky area, chasing after the shadow. I didn't think it would actually work!

As I watched the shuriken fly, the shadow flew around the area, trying to lose the blade that followed it. The windmill just went faster, until it was parallel to the shadow.

"Gotcha," I said to myself.

The shuriken immediately turned towards the shadow, pinning the man against the rock. The shadows disappeared. All that was left was the man's cloaked body pinned against the rock. He was laughing again.

"Good job, Link...," he chuckled under his breath. I thought he was nuts. "You're... getting better everyday...but...you're still weak!" He pulled the shuriken from his coat, releasing his body from the wall. He landed on his feet at the other side of the room. He was clapping his hands and laughing. I really thought that he was insane. He pulled the shuriken out from the wall.

I backed up. I knew he was going to throw it at me.

"Now, prepare for-" His words were interrupted by a cracking sound. I looked to my right to see the boulders breaking up, and then finally getting blown away. Mitsuhiro walked in, his Time Distorter attached to his arm. He looked mad.

"Put the shuriken down," he growled.

"Mitsuhiro!" I yelled, relieved to see him. He had a bit of blood running down his arm.

"Link, get out, while you still have the chance. I'll take care of this guy." He pulled out his katana.

"But-"

"Just go!"

I nodded, and ran through the hole he had made in the rock wall. I looked around the area to see Uzuki, Yashiro and Shuto fighting with a bunch of twili beasts.

"Link! Could use your help over here!" Uzuki cried as she held her scythe to one of the monsters.

I ran to her, and aimed my sword at the monster that was attacking her. These things were from the Dark Realm, no doubt about that.

"Where's Mitsuhiro?" Uzuki asked in a worried tone.

"He's... fighting with the guy from the Society," I answered.

She whimpered, and stabbed the back of the twili beast, killing it and turning it into twilight. She held her head low.

"I... hope he... doesn't get hurt...," she said in a low voice. She lifted her head again, and looked at Yashiro, who was fighting with two twili beasts. "Yashiro-chan! How are you holding up over there?" she yelled.

Yashiro punched a monster in the head, sending it sprawling to the ground. "Just fine! Get the others!"

Uzuki nodded, and looked at Shuto, who was fending off multiple shadow beasts with his flute. "Come on Link, let's go help him out!" She ran towards Shuto, her scythe held high. I followed her, destroying any small twili beasts that got in my way.

"Shuto, duck!" Uzuki screamed at him as she got closer to the twili beasts surrounding him. He obeyed, and crouched to the ground. As he did that, Uzuki swung her scythe in a circle, all around her body, cutting through all the twili beasts. When her scythe stopped, Shuto jumped back up again, and blew into his flute. Any remaining twili beasts fell to the ground from the immense sound.

I looked at the huge barrier of rock and broken mirrors. I could hear the clash of Mitsuhiro's sword against the man's. Why couldn't I figure out who it was? His voice sounded too familiar, and I felt stupid that I couldn't recognize it. Maybe... I just didn't _want_ to recognize it. It was so familiar, it was scary.

"Link!" Shuto yelled, snapping me out of my daydreaming. "We could use your help over here!" He was holding his flute against the hands of a twili beast.

I could hear a rumble from inside the barrier. Was Mitsuhiro in trouble? "Uzuki, help Shuto, I'm gonna go help Mitsuhiro!" I screamed. She nodded, and swung her scythe in all sorts of directions, the swinging blade lost in a blur. I turned to the giant hole Mitsuhiro had made in the boulders, and I jumped inside.

The man was flying around the area, and Mitsuhiro was standing in the middle, his katana held high. His eyes zoomed around the area, his gaze following the shadows that soared around him. Sweat was running down his face, and he had a huge gash on his arm. Blood was falling from the wound, and landing in a huge puddle of blood below him. I could tell he had been bleeding for a long time. His arm looked a pale white, probably from all the blood he lost from it.

The shadow stopped, and the man landed against the stone wall. He was still laughing.

"You're a pretty impressive swordsman," he laughed. "You fight even better than subject number one did in the plains of Morpha." Of course, his words didn't make any sense to me. It was like he was talking in code. The man laughed again. "Of course, sealed abilities mean sealed strengths, resulting in a low attack rate. Don't you think?"

Mitsuhiro shot a look at me, and then looked back at the man. He nodded, almost as if he understood what he was talking about. "You, from the Society. You encountered subject one as a mistake, right? You're older than Oni, and yet you haven't even been tested yet. Your sealed abilities are yet to be reborn." Mitsuhiro smirked at me. "It takes the hand of a double light, with a hint of darkness, and a massive amount of fear, revenge, or just the thoughts of destruction. Also, it may help to awaken Oni and the shadow at the same time..."

"Hah!" the man laughed, understanding Mitsuhiro's words. "What is that, a suicide attempt? You sure are cocky, wanting to try a trick like that."

"I'm _smart_, wanting to try a trick like that. Of course, he wouldn't last long..." He smirked at me again. What the hell was going on! Was Mitsuhiro actually having a conversation with this guy!

The man pulled out a very thin kunai from his sleeve, and aimed it at Mitsuhiro. He threw it, and suddenly, it multiplied into hundreds of kunais.

"Link, get out of the way!" Mitsuhiro screamed. He flicked his wrist, and a strange force pushed me back. I landed on my back, and looked up to see the multiple kunais zooming towards him. He held his Time Distorter over his head like a shield.

As the kunais struck, dust flew.

I held my arms up to block the dirt, and when it cleared, all I saw was Mitsuhiro standing with his Time Distorter over his head, multiple kunais sticking into his legs and back. There was blood staining the grass below his feet.

I ran up to him, and he held his right arm out at me. "Stay back, Link! They attack isn't-" Another kunai flew into his back. I looked at the wall from where it was fired. The man wasn't there, but instead, I noticed the black mirrors had reformed themselves. The thin kunais began to fly out from the mirrors, all of them piercing into Mitsuhiro's skin. He couldn't defend himself, because he was too busy defending _me_ with his Time Distorter. I could hear the kunais clang against the white metal of the weapon, and fall onto the ground. I looked up at Mitsuhiro's face. His eyes were gray, and his expression blank. Small drops of blood fell from his mouth.

He looked dead.

But I could tell he wasn't. I could see him breathing, but I wondered just how much pain he was in. When the kunais stopped, I crawled out from under his Time Distorter, and screamed at the horrible thing I saw.

Hundreds of thin kunais stuck into his back and arms.

Blood dripped down his arms, and on his legs. The kunais were _everywhere_: in his arms, his legs, on his back, even a few sticking into his neck. He remained slumping over, and then he straightened himself out, wincing from the pain. He took a step forward, readying his katana in his left hand. He started to walk towards the man, but as he took more steps, he slumped more and more, until finally, he fell to the ground, landing on his back.

The man laughed an evil laugh, and snapped his fingers. The boulders around us disappeared into twilight, along with the kunais that were on the ground, leaving the other kunais in Mitsuhiro's body. The man floated from the disintegrating wall, and gently landed on his feet. I turned away from him, and sat down on my knees in front of Mitsuhiro. I looked down at his motionless body.

He wasn't breathing.

I looked at one of the kunais in his back. A golden sheet of paper was attached to some of them.

The man had infused several of the kunais with light.

Mitsuhiro could be dead by now.

I hung my head low, and clenched the grass with my fingers.

I felt... like I was on fire.

**A Short Interlude**

The man crossed his arms, and silently laughed to himself.

His mission was accomplished.

Link would want revenge for sure now.

But would it awaken?

He highly doubted that.

"How does it feel, to lose a friend in battle?" he asked Link in a low voice. "You're just going to have to learn to accept a dying companion."

Suddenly, black flames erupted from around Link's body.

The flames almost appeared to form black wings.

The man gasped, and prepared his fists for the coming battle.

_It _had awoken.


	22. The Monster Inside

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 22: The Monster Inside**

_I walk through the dark corridor, my feet sloshing through the twilight-stained water. The walls in this room are black, like the water, and small bits of twilight rise from the ground, all the way to the ceiling. But the only thing I think of right now is the question that continues to nag at my mind. _

_Where was I, and how did I get here? _

_I travel down the corridor for what seems like forever, until I see that the path ends at a wall consisted of metal bars, almost like a jail cell. The cell bars travel all the way from the floor to the ceiling, and the ceiling is a long way up. The cell is monstrous. A huge chain is fastened through the bars, and finally locked together with a huge lock with a keyhole. _

_I can hear breathing. _

_I try to see in the darkness that is on the other side of the bars, but I don't see anything._

_Only darkness. _

_Suddenly, the water on the other side begins to rise, spinning around like a whirlpool. When the water falls back to the ground, I see a man standing in front of me, behind the bars. But he appears as a shadow, clothed in black. His fingers grasp the bars, and he glares at me with horrific red eyes._

_He looks like me._

_He looks like adult me._

_I stare at him, at his red eyes, and at his shadow covered face. I notice the black wings that grow from his back. They look like Reaper wings, each feather sharp and torn. I don't see his feet; they're all surrounded in shadows._

_The man smirks at me, revealing fangs at the corners of his mouth. Was he a Reaper? He laughs with an evil sort of tone._

_"I never thought I'd be seeing you here," he snickers. "You are a strange boy indeed."_

_"Who are you?" I ask. _

_He holds his left hand up, revealing a black Triforce, similar to Dex's. "That answer your question?"_

_"Um... yes..." I didn't want to ask too many questions. When I saw the Triforce on his hand, I knew too much already._

_He was me. _

_"Where am I?" I ask. _

_"That doesn't... really matter at this point," the man mutters. "You've... awakened me... so it's time to go show those fools at the Society what true power is!" He clenches his hands into tight fists._

_"Wait... what do you mean?" I start to back up, panicking from the tone in the man's voice. He sounds just like Dex. _

_The shadows form around his body, and suddenly, the lock on the chains shatters, and the chains fall into the water. The huge cloud of shadows bursts through the bar doors, flying towards me. _

_I try to move, but I can't._

_I'm too scared to move._

_As I watch the shadows fly at me, they push me back, sending me sprawling to the water. But for some reason, the floor is suddenly gone, and I fall into darkness. When I try to see what's going on, I see water ripple above me, the ripples creating a reflection of my face. As I fall, I start to make out the image in the rippling water. _

_It's me all right, but something is wrong._

_Strange black markings appear on my cheeks, two on each side, and my hair is blond, but as it reaches my bangs, it changes to the color of black. I notice small fangs growing at the top corners of my mouth, and my eyes shift from a deep blue to a dark red. I can feel the comfort of black feathered wings underneath me. I look at the Triforce on my hand, hoping that the power of light from it will help change me back. _

_But it's too late. _

_The Triforce is a faint black color, and its haunting glow of darkness sends shivers up my spine. I scream, and wait for the water to take me away forever._

I opened my eyes to see Mitsuhiro's lifeless body. I felt sick to my stomach, but the feeling was just overcome with rage. I felt like my entire body was on fire. I stood up from the grass, and spread my fingers out. I turned my head to the side a bit, just enough so I could see the black robed man.

"You...," I hissed under my breath. I changed my low voice to a scream. "You'll pay for this!" I spun around, and threw an orb of darkness at the man. I had no idea where it came from, but at this point, it didn't matter. The man jumped to the side, dodging it, but his attempt was useless when I ran up to him and grabbed him by the neck. I tightened my grip around his throat. He clawed at my fingers, trying to release himself from my grip.

"W-What are you!" he screamed in a choked tone, his voice losing air quickly.

I growled, and threw him to the ground, sending him through the grass. He flew through the grass, leaving a deep trail of upturned grass and dirt. When he stopped, I leaped up, and landed right next to him. I pushed my foot against his chest, pushing him even deeper into the ground. I could here his screams of pain.

What I was wondering, was where I got this power.

What happened to me?

I didn't feel like myself. I felt like I was someone else. I removed my foot from the man's chest, and leaped back, allowing him to pull himself up from the ground. He wobbled as he lifted himself from the dirt, coughing loudly, and lumbered towards me.

"Such... beautiful power...," he sighed. "I've been waiting... for this moment..." He held his fists at me, and charged at me, shadows forming around his body. Unaware of my own actions, I suddenly flipped through the air, arching back so that I could see the man running underneath me. He had a shocked look on his face, which I could barely see underneath his hood.

I looked past him to see Uzuki, Yashiro, and Shuto fighting off more twili beasts. Uzuki noticed us though. She was glaring at me, her mouth agape. She grabbed Yashiro by the collar of her shirt, pulling her away from a twili beast. Yashiro noticed me after that, and frowned, then she spun around to start beating up the twili beasts again. Uzuki did the same.

As I landed back on my feet, I grabbed the hood of the man's robe, and pulled him towards me, kicking him in the stomach. I released his hood, and then began punching him in the face, landing a few kicks on his chest in between the blows. His hood flew off his face, and he landed on the ground. I could tell who he was now.

The man leaped to his feet. Never mind, I couldn't tell who he was. He had a black bandanna tied around his hair, revealing only a few black bangs over his eyes, and a few strands of hair that fell in the back. He was wearing black sunglasses over his eyes.

The man yelled, and clasped his palms together. Black mirrors formed up from the ground, and rose up all around me. It was like a dome of black mirrors. I could see thin kunais sticking out from the glass.

"You're gonna pay for that!" the man screamed. He released his hands, and spread his arms from his body. The kunais all flew from the glass, all of them surrounding me.

What happened next was a total blur.

I swerved around the needles, ducking beneath them, jumping over them, turning around them, even blocking some of them with the black wings that had formed on my back. The only thing I could see while moving so fast was the blur of grass, my body, and the kunais that flew past me or bounced off my wings.

When the kunais stopped, the wings on my back spread from my body, and I held my hand out, intimidating the man to do his worst.

"You're stronger than I thought...," the man hissed. He took out a huge black sword, and held it high. "But... I can't let you get away this time!"

I reached over my back, pulling a sword out from its sheath. When I looked at it, it looked similar to the man's sword, except it was silver, with black twilight markings wound around the blade. I held it forward, and smirked at the man.

He charged at me, his fingers tightened around the handle of his sword.

_I walk across the clear blue water, and examine the tree in the middle of the white room._

I became distracted by the sudden thought, but tried to stay focused at the man as he charged towards me.

_I examine the door, which is barred over. There are no enemies in this room, no switches to activate... how do I get out of here?_

Of all the times, why did this need to happen now! It was like I was having another dream, even though I was awake! I shifted my sword to the left a little, and blocked the man's sword as it struck down.

_Suddenly, I get a feeling of insecurity... like I'm being watched... I spin around, and look at the tree again. I see a black shadow leaning against it. He isn't moving. He's just watching me._

Now I knew what was happening. I was having visions from the Water Temple, when I was an adult.

_I slowly walk towards the tree, trying to make out the shadow. It looks like me, except with a black tunic, with black shadows covering all around it, and red eyes that could probably see into my very soul. I continue to walk towards it, and suddenly it falls into the water, disappearing into the ripples of blue. I'm getting nervous now, and start to look around for the man. Then, out of nowhere, he leaps at me with a black sword. I dodge, and attempt to retaliate, but before I can strike him with my sword, he disappears back into the water, leaving nothing but ripples behind._

I pushed the man's sword back, and punched him hard with my free left hand. When he stumbled back, I took the opportunity to strike. I slashed my sword across his chest, and he fell back, landing on the ground. He didn't make a sound as he fell.

I continued to hold onto my sword tightly, in case he was still alive. He definitely wasn't a Reaper, so he could be killed a little easier, but that still didn't guarantee that he was dead. I could see his chest rise and fall with his slow breathing. After a moment, he weakly sat up, and began to pick at the grass with his fingers. There was a rip in the front of his robe, and I could see blood releasing itself from his skin underneath.

The man wearily lifted himself up to his feet. He stumbled a bit, but finally managed to stand up, bending over a bit to keep his wound closed with his arm. He supported himself by sticking his blade into the ground and leaning on it.

I had a strange feeling inside me... all the emotions I felt were too horrible. I just wanted to rip this guy to shreds. What was wrong with me? I felt like the only thing I wanted to do was get revenge, like I wanted to just kill everyone in my path!

"You are... much stronger than I ever imagined...," the man said in a low voice, almost choking on his words. "I never imagined I'd ever get to fight you in this form... but... you can't control it, can you?"

I said nothing, and prepared my sword, ready to strike him down.

He smiled, and pulled his hood back over his face. "I obviously can't defeat you... the way I am now... you're still the stronger one... but I'm much stronger than this, when I'm awakened... just you wait... I'll wait for you, until you're strong enough to defeat my power!"

Where had I heard those words before?

Wait... was it... Dex?

The man coughed, and put his sword back into its sheath. He began to back up from me. A shadow portal opened up from behind him.

"I'm sorry for leaving you in this form, Link...," he whispered. He stepped back into the portal, his body beginning to dissolve into darkness. "I want to help you, but... there's nothing I can do..."

As he backed up, I began to run towards him, my sword ready to strike, but I was too late. He disappeared, and the portal closed.

I threw my blade to the ground in anger, and screamed. He got away. I was so close to destroying him, and he got away. I kicked at the ground. Uzuki ran up from behind me, and wrapped her arms around my chest. I kicked and squirmed, trying to get away from her, but she wouldn't let go. I clawed at her arms, leaving deep scratches on her skin, but she held on anyways. Why was I doing this! It wasn't like me at all! I kept scratching at her, and eventually, her arms were completely covered in blood.

"Yashiro!" she cried. Yashiro came running up, and grabbed my arms, preventing me from scratching. Why was I trying so hard to escape? Deep in my mind, I knew that they were trying to help me, but something else blocked my thoughts, and it wanted me to hurt everyone. I had no choice. I bit down on Yashiro's arms, and my new fangs dug deep into her skin. She gritted her teeth in pain, but she kept holding on. I was surprised she was having trouble holding on, I mean, why didn't she just punch me into the ground? She was strong enough, wasn't she? But now that I was in this form... was I stronger than her?

"Link!" Uzuki growled. "Calm down! Everything's fine!"

Shuto ran up to me too, and then tried to push me to the ground. I began to fall, but I soon got my strength back, and I kicked, scratched, and bit them all away from me. Yashiro began punching me hard in the stomach, trying to get me to the grass. That was what began to slow me down. I was strong, but with Yashiro punching me down, and Uzuki and Shuto holding my arms and legs, I couldn't exactly fight back. Finally, they got me down to the ground, and Uzuki kept me down by pinning my shoulders to the grass.

"Link!" Uzuki growled again. "Please, try to calm down! The Society is gone, Mitsuhiro is alright!"

That was all it took. When I heard those words, I suddenly began to calm down, and my body began to feel lighter and lighter. I didn't feel so angry anymore either. All the raging thoughts of revenge and killing people suddenly left my mind. I stopped clawing and kicking at Uzuki and Yashiro. It was like my entire body was shifting.

"Are you alright, Link?" Yashiro asked me, bending down next to me as I lay in the grass.

I took a deep breath, relaxing in my old self once again. "Where's... Mitsuhiro?" I choked.

"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine...," Uzuki hushed. Shuto handed her a bandage, and she began to wrap it around the left side of my face.

"W-What happened?" I asked, dazed. I reached up to feel my face, but Uzuki pulled my hand away.

"Don't worry, we'll explain everything later. We need to get you someplace safe first. How does Kakariko sound?"

I forced a smile. "Please..."

Yashiro set me down on the small soft bed. Man, did I have a headache. My heart was going so slow too, I was afraid it would skip a beat, or even stop. I stared up at the ceiling from the bed, and Yashiro smiled down at me.

"You're a tough kid," she muttered, crossing her arms. She looked at Uzuki, who was laying Mitsuhiro on the bed across from me. He was breathing fine now, and there were bandages wrapped around his back, arms and legs from where all the kunais hit him. He was simply sleeping now.

Uzuki walked up to the side of my bed. "Link, I need to ask you something important," she said in a calm voice. "What exactly did you feel?"

I wiped my hand against the bandages that were wrapped around my left cheek. "I... don't know... I don't remember much... that battle is a total blur to me now."

"Please try and remember Link. It's important that we know."

"I don't even know what happened to me back there!" My heart began to race again. For some reason, the wound on my face began to heat up. I probably opened it again.

"I'm going to tell you, just calm down! If you don't, it could happen again!"

"What could happen again!"

Uzuki sat on a chair next to my bed. "Link, what happened back there can't exactly be explained very well from us. The only one who could explain it the best is Dark Link, or the Deity."

"I don't want to see Dex again! I want to kill him!" I quickly sat up, and clenched my hands into fists. My Triforce began to glow, and I could feel the wound on my cheek heating up even more. Was it happening again?

"Link, everything will be fine, you just need to calm down!" Uzuki pushed me back against the pillow. "You don't need to speak with Dex, or the Deity. We just need to figure out what makes your inner Soul tick."

"Inner Soul?"

"Hmm, how do I explain it?" She stood up from the chair, and pulled out her sketchbook. She started to draw in it, then she held the finished drawing towards me. It looked almost like a chart. There was a doodle of me, and there was a diagonal arrow that pointed to a drawing of the Deity. There was another diagonal line going downwards which pointed to a drawing of Dex.

Shuto sat at the end of the bed, and stared at the drawing. "Uzuki, that doesn't make any sense," he muttered.

"It'll make sense," she said, and held the end of the pencil with the lead towards the doodle of me. "Okay, so this is you, Link." She circled the drawing, and then traced a light arrow towards the drawing of the Deity. "As witnessed back on your journey to save Termina, you put on a special mask, transforming you into the Fierce Deity. After transforming, the Deity was released, and the mask disappeared." She made small 'x' on the Deity's forehead. "The Deity is now the guardian of the Temple of Time, and the Mirror of Twilight. He is no longer trapped inside a mask, and he interacts with the world of Hyrule on his own."

"What does this prove?" I asked.

She made a small doodle of a sun next to the Deity's head. "The Deity is an entity of light, and shuns out the darkness. However, Dex..." She drew a moon next to Dex's head. "Dex was released from the darkness of your heart, and uses the darkness as his ultimate power. When you were on the battlefield, and witnessed Mitsuhiro's near-death experience, something clicked in your Soul power, which released the power of Dex. Did you feel like you wanted revenge when you fought?"

I nodded. "I wanted revenge, and I also wanted to kill everyone in my path."

Uzuki swallowed. "That explains why you were trying to maul us when we were trying to calm you down. You wanted revenge at the man who nearly killed Mitsuhiro. That probably means that Dex can be awakened when you want revenge, or when you become extremely angry. Like back at Lon Lon Ranch."

"What about the Deity?" Shuto asked.

"The Deity is something special," Uzuki began again, and drew a question mark next to the Deity's head. "If it was anger that awakened it, then why didn't Link change into the Deity back there? It must be something else. We'll just have to figure it out as we go along. This also means that you have three types of Soul in your body: your Soul energy, the Soul required to awaken Dex, and the Soul that awakens the Deity."

"What happened to my face?" I asked. Uzuki raised her eyebrow at me, probably wondering why I changed the subject so quickly.

"It was your first time turning into Dark Link. I guess your body couldn't withstand it, so you got a wound in the process. That scratch will probably end up turning into a scar."

_Great,_ I thought. _I'm thirteen, and I already have a scar on my face._

"By the way...," I yawned. "When I was fighting, I started to have flashbacks of the Water Temple in Lake Hylia, when I fought Dark Link for the first time."

"That makes sense," Yashiro interrupted. I forgot she was there. "Memories of your first battle with Dark Link would probably happen when you awaken him for the first time."

"Dammit, why is this happening of all times?" I cried, and held my head in my hands. "This stupid battle between us and the Society... it has to stop!" I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I held them back. This entire journey was stupid now. I could tell the Society wasn't going to give up easily too. They wouldn't stop until they got their hands on me.

I looked at Mitsuhiro at the other side of the room. His eyes were slightly open. He had been listening in on our conversation.

I smirked. "How are you feeling over there, Mitsuhiro?"

The others gave me funny looks, and then they all looked at Mitsuhiro, surprised that he was awake.

Mitsuhiro turned his eyes at me, and then he stared at the ceiling. "Just fine...," he muttered.

I sat up against my pillow. "Uzuki, can you pass me my bag?" I asked her. She looked at me again, and then nodded. She walked over to the door and lifted my bag, and then she handed it to me. I reached inside, and pulled out the sudoku book Zelda had given me.

"I'm going to rest for a while, if you guys don't mind."

Yashiro smiled. "Take all the time you need. You too, Mitsuhiro."

Mitsuhiro just grunted in approval, and continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Alright," Uzuki sighed. "Yashiro, Shuto, and I have some business to discuss, so we'll be back to check on you later, okay?"

"Okay," I muttered, and wrote a number on the sudoku puzzle. Uzuki rolled her eyes, and left the house with the others. They locked the door behind them.

Mitsuhiro took his eyes from the ceiling, sat up in his bed, and glared at me. "Alright, Freshmeat, I wanna know what happened back there, and I wanna know the truth."

"What are you calling me 'Freshmeat' for?" I asked him, looking up from my sudoku book. "I've been with you guys for about a month now."

"Just answer the damn question! Did you awaken back there!"

"Listen, I don't know about this any more than you do! I don't like the way things are going, but it's not like I can help turning into that... whatever the hell it was! Turns out that nobody decided to tell me about that!"

Mitsuhiro's hands were fists now. His eyes looked like there was a fire burning inside of them. "You're not the only one who has to face that problem, you little runt! The Reapers have to put up with that problem too! At least we know how to _control_ it!"

I blinked. "Wait, what do you mean? The Reapers have to deal with the same problem as me!"

"How do you think we've been surviving? When a Reaper gets weak, we turn into those monsters, and we go all berserk on the enemy! Final warning, that form of yours was just pathetic compared to mine!"

"What was that!" I screamed. If I kept this up, it wouldn't be much longer until I turned into Dex again.

"You heard me! If it wasn't for your meager skills being enhanced in that battle, you probably wouldn't be here right now!"

I closed my sudoku book and threw it inside my bag with my pen. "What do you want from me, huh!" I was seriously ready to just jump out of my bed and punch him in the face.

"You _are_ weak! You can't even hold your own anger back!" He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, his irises were a strange red. "So what's holding you back from attacking me...?"

I could feel the fangs growing in my mouth. I leaped from my bed, and suddenly found myself above Mitsuhiro's bed. I threw a punch at him, but he quickly grabbed it, twisted my arm, and threw me to the wood floor. I reacted quickly and landed on my feet.

Mitsuhiro snickered, and strange black designs began to appear on his forehead. "Well? Surely you can do better than that."

I growled, and charged at him again. This time he waved his arm, and I was pushed back by a strange force, which blew me up and onto my bed. The bed snapped in half. I jumped back up from my back.

Mitsuhiro stood up from his bed, and ran at me. As he got closer, I kicked him in the stomach... hard. He flew over his bed, and right through the wall, landing in the grass outside. He flipped back to his feet, and smirked at me. It was almost like one of those 'What are you waiting for?' smirks. I cracked my knuckles, and ran out through the hole in the wall towards Mitsuhiro. I jumped, and punched Mitsuhiro straight in the face. He fell back a bit, but not enough to fall. He brought himself back, and tried to punch at me, but I grabbed his fist. He used his other hand to punch, but I grabbed it too. Both his fists were in my hands now. I tightened my grip, and lifted my foot. I kicked him in the stomach, and then released my fingers from his, throwing him into the ground. He screamed, not expecting that attack.

When he pulled himself up, the black markings on his face were trailing down the left side of his face, his neck, and all the way to the end of his left arm. He threw his left arm back, and widened his fingers. The black markings around his arm began to glow, and he closed his fingers into a tight fist. He charged at me, holding his fist back, and a strange black glow began to form around his hand. I charged at him too, the same thing happening to my right hand. We ran at each other, our fists both glowing with black twilight marks.

"Would you two quit it!"

I felt like I was kicked in the stomach, and I fell to the ground. I looked up at Uzuki, who had a very mad expression on her face.

"Honestly, can't I leave you two alone for more than a few minutes!"


	23. Twilight Returns

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 23: Twilight Returns**

I looked up at Uzuki. Man, did she looked pissed. I realized that I must have transformed back into my original form: if I was in my 'dark' form, I probably would have attempted to rip her to shreds by now. I looked past her to see Mitsuhiro lying on his back, the black markings disappearing from his face and arms, and his eyes changing back to the color of black. We both sat up, both of us on the opposite side of Uzuki.

"I can't believe you two!" Uzuki scolded, crossing her arms as she spoke. "You two were getting along so well, and I come back to see you two trying to _kill_ each other! You're _teammates_! You don't see me and Yashiro trying to kill-"

"Yes we do," I interrupted.

Uzuki growled. "Well, you don't see me attacking you guys-"

"You just did!" Mitsuhiro cut in.

Uzuki rolled her eyes. "That's different. Either way, you two have to start getting along!"

"We'll get along when we're _dead_!" Mitsuhiro snickered.

"He's right you know," I agreed.

"You know, we're going to have to fix the house now," Uzuki grumbled, and pointed at the huge hole in the wall of the building.

I laughed under my breath. "Yeah, we know."

Really, it was Uzuki who did all the work. She just drew the house back to the way it used to be. Of course, it did take her a while, about a couple hours at most. She watched me and Mitsuhiro like a vulture, making sure we didn't do anything. I was surprised she didn't tie us to our chairs! Mitsuhiro and I just glared at each other, a battle going on between our expressions. Uzuki just sat next to us and drew out the house. We sat outside, underneath the stars, waiting until she finished her drawing.

"You know, I'm sure you two could be good friends," Uzuki muttered to us, keeping her eyes on her paper. "You two have more in common than you think."

"Like what!" we both grumbled at the same time.

"Like that. You two both think the same way, you pretty much fight the same way, and you enjoy doing the same things. Link, you were raised an orphan, right? Mitsuhiro had parents when he grew up. That's something you two could talk about. Or you could train together in the mornings. I don't care what the hell it is you two can do for fun, just don't kill each other!"

I sighed, and looked up at the starry sky. Uzuki had a point, but... Mitsuhiro and I just didn't seem like the kind of people that could get along.

"Besides," Uzuki muttered, breaking my thoughts. "You two have the exact same aura."

"And that is?" I asked, still looking at the stars.

"Green with a hint of twilight black."

I smiled, and looked over Uzuki's shoulder at her drawing. It was almost finished, once she finished the rest, she would just have to input the data. I turned my eyes towards Mitsuhiro; he was picking a toothpick through his teeth. Really, how could I possibly get along with_ him_?

I opened my bag, and pulled out my Time Gate. Miu was sleeping inside the bag, as usual. I flipped through the pages, and began to write inside. I could see Mitsuhiro watching me from the corner of my eye. I filled in about five pages of what had happened so far, including my strange vision when I turned into my dark form. When I was finished writing, I started to flip through all the pages, to see how much I wrote. It seemed like a lot, but the Time Gate never ran out of pages, so I could write in this thing my entire life, and it wouldn't make any difference. All the lettering had changed to the creepy sharp lettering too.

"Uzuki, am I ever going to be able to use the Time Gate again?" I asked.

"Sure you will," Uzuki replied. "We may get missions sometime that require you to go back in time to complete them."

"So where's Shuto and Yashiro?" Mitsuhiro asked as he continued to pick the toothpick through his teeth.

"They're still having the discussion about what we're going to do next. Malon and her family are safe, and we're going to be watching over the ranch for a few hours, just to make sure that man doesn't come back. In the meantime, we're also going to find out how we can get Link's power under control. After that, well, we'll just have to wait and see."

"And how do you plan to get that _thing _under control?" I growled.

"If we could do it for Mitsuhiro, we can do it for you."

I looked at Mitsuhiro. He immediately threw the toothpick away, and he looked down to his feet. I could easily tell that what Uzuki said bothered him. So... he had the same problem I had when he became a Reaper? Maybe that's why he acted so cold around me... because he couldn't stand seeing that problem occurring twice. Or maybe it was something else? There was no way I would ask him, he would probably just pound my face in. That is, if I didn't awaken and do it to him first.

I sighed and put my Time Gate back into my bag, next to Mr. Mew. Then my hand touched something cold, almost like metal. I dug through my bag, and pulled out a long black cloth. It was wide around the middle, and it was thinner near the ends. In the middle of the cloth was a silver rectangular plate, and it was attached to the cloth with small bolts. In the center of the plate was an engraved image of a silver-colored Triforce.

"Uzuki, what's this?" I asked her, holding it up for her to see. I obviously didn't put it in there, I didn't even know it existed.

She smiled. "I was planning to make it a surprise, and I was going to show it to you when I got back from the meeting. I wasn't expecting to see you two brawling it out, so I put it into your bag before I stopped you two from fighting. It's a forehead protector. You wear it as a headband. It's a symbol of the Time Keepers." She pulled out another one from her robe pocket, and handed it to Mitsuhiro. He took it without saying a word.

I wrapped the cloth around my forehead, underneath my bangs so that they hung in front of the metal plate. I tied it at the back, and the remaining two strands of cloth hung down over my back.

Mitsuhiro examined his headband for a moment, and then tied it around his left arm, near his shoulder.

I looked at Uzuki, and noticed that she was wearing one like a hairband to keep her bangs out from her eyes. I never really noticed it there until now. Only a few bangs hung out from underneath it, and they covered the left side of her face, only missing her left eye.

"There, I'm finished," Uzuki sighed, and set her pencil down. Now, when I say the drawing was extremely detailed and complex, I mean it was _extremely _detailed and complex. She didn't miss one brick on the walls, or one tile on the roof. The grass was carefully drawn around it, and the windows were shaped perfectly. She had even drawn the inside of the building next to the exterior sketch.

Uzuki raised her arms, and placed her palms down on the paper. A huge spark of yellow and blue light burst from the drawing, and when it was finally all gone, we could see the house standing right in front of us. The wall was completely fixed, not a brick was out of place.

Uzuki set her sketchbook on the grass, stood up, and stretched her arms out. She groaned. "Man, those drawings sure take forever... please don't make me draw something like that _ever again_."

"Hypocrite," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "You always do that, you promise yourself you're not going to do anything again, and then a little while later... you do it again!"

"Whatever. Hey Link, how do you like the headband?"

I looked up at her. "It's great, thanks Uzuki. I feel like an honorary Time Keeper now!"

"Uzuki!" I heard Yashiro yell. She came running up to her, and stopped to catch her breath. Shuto eventually came up from behind her. I could see her forehead protector on her head. She was wearing it the exact same way Uzuki wore it: like a hairband. Shuto was wearing his around his waist, like a belt.

"So, what's the news?" Mitsuhiro asked. "I want the good news first, then the bad news."

"Well, a huge wall of twilight is being created around Kakariko Village!" Shuto said.

"Then what the hell is the bad news?" I asked, panicking from his report.

"Oh wait, that _was_ the bad news!"

I rolled my eyes.

"The good news is that I found a purple rupee!" Yashiro snickered.

"Why are you laughing at this?" Mitsuhiro snapped. He stood up from his chair. "Come on, let's go! Geez, must every five minutes of my life involve stopping the Society?"

"Yep!" Yashiro laughed. She turned around, and ran off towards the village gate. "We got twilight to get rid of!" she yelled as she ran. Pretty soon, we couldn't see her anymore.

"Man, I wish that girl could just stay still for a few minutes...," Shuto groaned, and chased after her.

"Will there be any monsters involved?" I asked. I did _not _want to transform again. Not ever again.

"There may be a few twilight beasts, but nothing too big," Uzuki said. She cracked her knuckles, and pulled out several shurikens from the holster attached to her leg, underneath her robe. She looked at us. "Ready?"

I nodded, and took out my sword. Mitsuhiro took out his katana and summoned his Time Distorter to his right arm. I made sure I had my shurikens ready in my holster, and when I was sure I was prepared, I began to walk to the entrance of the village, with Uzuki and Mitsuhiro following close behind. They were all wearing their robes, all of them with their weapons ready, ready to fight off another disturbance in my world. I had a robe too, I just never had the guts to wear it. When I wore it, it felt like I was something else... like I was an entity of darkness, like the Reapers. Of course, being entities of darkness, the Reapers were nice people. They all looked after each other, watched out for each others backs. That's why they were such a good team.

When we reached the gate, sure enough, a thick wall of twilight was growing between the staircases to the gate. But it seemed to be spreading fast. Inside the twilight, I could see shadow beasts pulling themselves out from the darkness. Yashiro and Shuto stood next to each other, examining the wall.

"Link, do you have your robe?" Mitsuhiro asked me.

Didn't I just say I didn't like wearing it? I reached into my bag, and pulled it out. "Yeah."

"Put it on, and make sure the sleeves go over your hands. It will protect your Triforce from being contaminated by the shadows. Wouldn't want that happening, now would we?"

I shuddered. What would happen if the Triforce _was_ engulfed in shadows? It definitely wouldn't be a pretty sight, that's for sure. I pulled my sleeves over my left hand, and made sure to hold it there with my fingers. I would only be able to use my sword, shurikens would be unusable unless I wanted the darkness to get into my Triforce. I would have to count on the Reapers for this battle. Of course, Uzuki did say there were only shadow beasts. Nothing I couldn't handle, right?

Mitsuhiro was the first to step through. He took a step forward, and then soon, his body was covered in twilight, and he could barely be seen on the other side. Once he was through, he held his hand out back through the wall towards us. Uzuki grabbed his hand with hers, and he pulled her through. Shuto grabbed Yashiro's arm, and jumped into the twilight, leaving me to be the last to go through. Shuto held his hand out towards me. I took a deep breath, pulled my hood over my head, and took his hand, allowing him to pull me through the twilight wall. I closed my eyes the entire time.

When I knew that I was through the wall, I opened my eyes. Kakariko covered in twilight wasn't much different than the Dark Realm itself. Of course, this was only the entranceto Kakariko that was covered. I was sure it would look much different to me if it was the entire town. I looked back at the wall. It almost looked like it was _moving_. It was spreading, and fast too.

"Shuto, we'd better hurry," I warned. "The twilight is growing."

"Don't worry, we'll get it out," Shuto assured, and waved at Yashiro. "Hey Yashiro, you got the shadow beasts over there?"

Yashiro punched one in the face, throwing it into the boulder that surrounded the entrance like a wall. I guess they didn't need to be in the Dark Realm to have all their powers. Uzuki was throwing shurikens at their bodies, knocking them to the ground. All Mitsuhiro had to do was cut them with his katana, then they were dead. Shuto readied his fists, and began punching and kicking at the monsters. I prepared my sword as a shadow beast approached me, making sure to hide my Triforce underneath my sleeve. I struck at its head, only to have my blade bounce off the metal plate that was on its face.

Mitsuhiro saw me trying to attack it. "Link, you idiot! Attack the body, not the head!"

I did what he told me without hesitation, and slashed my blade across the monster's torso. Black blood began to form across the wound, and the beast fell to its knees, disintegrating into twilight. I jumped at the next monster I saw, and killed it the same way. When it died, I saw another one, but when I jumped at it, I was pushed back by something. I fell on my back, and looked up at what had pushed me back. A very clear twilight wall was in front of me, guarding the shadow beast. In fact, these things were spread all over the area, and I could tell they were causing trouble for the others too.

The shadow beast shrieked at my attempt to hit him, almost as if it were mocking me. I tried to find another entrance, and eventually, I found a small gap that the shadow beast had failed to block. I took the opportunity, and ran through the gap, striking the shadow beast in the back, pushing it to the ground and killing it.

"Mitsuhiro, we have to hurry!" Uzuki screamed. "We're not going to get anywhere if we just keep fighting these things! Isn't there a spring anywhere?" She was watching as the twilight grew over the houses and windmills in the village.

Shuto ran up to me. "Link, is there a spring around here? Possibly one that has fairies flying around it?"

I thought for a moment. "The only one I can think of is the Great Fairy's Fountain up on Death Mountain."

"No, that's not it, it's like a lake, you know? Surrounded by trees and wildlife? Is there anything like that around here?"

I began to think again. I had never heard of something like that in Kakariko. I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry, I haven't heard of that before."

Yashiro groaned. "Alright, we'll just have to look around then."

"Wait, what are you talking about anyways?" I asked. "Does a lake really matter?"

"Whoops, I guess we forgot to explain that one to him," Shuto sighed. "Let me explain, we're in the Kakariko region right now. There are a total of four regions: the Kakariko region, the Kokiri region, and the Hyrulian region. The Kakariko region is where we are now, and it stretches from here, to Death Mountain, and all the way to Zora's Domain. The Kokiri region is the forest, where the Great Deku Tree used to reside, and all throughout the Lost Woods. The Gerudo region is just as it says: the desert. It's the smallest region. And finally, the Hyrulian province is Hyrule Castle, the Castle Town Market, Lon Lon Ranch, Hyrule Field, and all the way out to Lake Hylia. Anyways, in these regions, there is an individual spirit that watches over it. The spirit Lanayru watches over the Hyrulian region. Eldin watches over this region, in Kakariko. And finally, Faron watches over the forest. The Gerudo region doesn't exactly belong with the others, so it doesn't have a spirit. Am I going too fast for you?"

I blinked, and waited for a moment for all the information he was giving me to sink through. "Uh, yeah, I understand. Go on."

"Alright, now when a region is covered in twilight, the spirit can usually take care of it on its own, but sometimes things happen, like when a shadow beast takes its soul. There are two reasons we defeat the shadow beasts: to save ourselves, and to find the shadow beast that took the spirit's soul. But even if we do find it, we have to awaken it with a special energy, an energy that can only be acquired through the Triforce. When we awakened Lanayru back in the Hyrulian region, we got help from Zelda. That was when twilight surrounded Hyrule castle. The spring happens to be in one of the courtyards. Anyways, we can use your Triforce to bring the spirit Eldin back to life in this region, we just need to find the lake."

I groaned. We just had to find the lake. That was probably going to be the hard part.

"Alright, then let's go look for it," I said. "How about we split up? How about three of us go find the shadow beast that has the spirit's soul, and then the other two go look for the lake?"

"As long as I'm with Uzuki-chan!" Yashiro yelled, and grabbed Uzuki's elbow.

"Why don't you pick the teams, Link?" Shuto muttered. "It was your idea."

Great, now I had to choose the teams. Uzuki had to go with Yashiro, so I knew I couldn't seperate them. After hanging out with Shuto for a while, I had learned that he was a good tracker, and had a very keen eye, so he would be good for looking for the spring. Mitsuhiro probably wouldn't care, as long as he wasn't on my team. And I couldn't forget Miu either, she was a valued member of our team. Kon was probably going to stick with Uzuki either way, so I didn't need to worry about what team he was going to go on.

"Alright, I've decided," I finally said. "Mitsuhiro, Uzuki, Kon, and Yashiro will go look for the shadow beast that's holding the spirit's soul. Shuto, Miu and I are going to go look for the spring. If we find the spring, we'll contact you with our C.T. Crystal. If you guys have found the spirit's soul by then, we'll send Miu out to find you guys, and she'll lead you out to the spring. How's that for a plan?"

"It's perfect, but will Miu be alright on her own?" Shuto asked.

"Well, she can probably change her appearance so she'll look like a shadow beast. The monsters wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Then, when she reaches you guys, she can change back to her cat form, and she can lead you to where we found the spring."

"Wow, that plan sounds easy, and it'll definitely work!" Yashiro snickered. "Good idea Link!" She gave me a thumbs-up, and smirked. She pulled Mitsuhiro and Uzuki away by their elbows, leaving Shuto and I to think of where to look first.

We sat down, and began to think of places that would be appropriate for a lake to be. I knew this entire town like the back of my hand, so we had to think of places where I hadn't been to yet.

"You know, considering this is the first time you're our leader in a mission, you did a pretty good job of splitting us up," Shuto complimented, and smiled.

"Wait, did you say leader?" I muttered. "All I did was think of a plan and split us up into teams."

"Yes, but that's what makes a leader to the Time Keepers. You made a good plan, and you divided us into good pairs. It was a good idea to pair Yashiro, Uzuki and Mitsuhiro together. They all get along really well, and they're the strongest of all of us. They can handle whatever shadow beast that comes in their path. Also, you knew I was good at finding stuff, so you put me on the team that would look for the spring. I'm not as strong, and we're less likely to run into shadow beasts if we're just looking for a lake. And Miu can fly, so she can look for the spring from an aerial view. But I'm wondering, why didn't you put yourself on the team to find the shadow beast?"

"I didn't just pair people up depending on their strengths and weaknesses, I also did it according to friendship levels. I knew I wouldn't get along with Mitsuhiro, and I knew Uzuki and Yashiro got along well with him, so I paired them up together. Also, I kept Miu on this team because she's your cat, and I teamed myself up with you because we're better friends."

Shuto smiled, and stood up from the ground. He whistled, and Miu came crawling out from my bag. She jumped up onto his shoulder, her long tail hanging over his back, and her head resting near his neck, on his collarbone. She purred softly.

"No matter what way you paired us up, you paired us up correctly," Shuto laughed. "We should put you in charge of our missions more often."

I stood up, and put my sword back into its sheath. I was going to have to rely a lot on Shuto's help. I couldn't see very well because of the hood, and I was the only one wearing the hood over my face because my body wasn't used to the immense amount of darkness yet. When I looked in the twilight, it took hours for my eyes to adjust, time that we didn't have at this point. If I were to immediately take my hood off, it would be like cave darkness; it would be so dark that I wouldn't be able to see my hands in front of my face, and I wouldn't even be able to tell if my eyes were closed or not, which would pretty much drive me insane.

Shuto held his arm up, and Miu walked onto his elbow, looking as graceful as an eagle. Her wings spread from her body, and she began to fly up, flapping her dragon-like wings until she was high above our heads. She flew up into the twilight-stained sky, until she disappeared through the golden clouds.

"Let's hurry Link!" Shuto urged. "The twilight has probably covered the entire area by now!" He ran, and I followed close behind him, trying not to lose him in the intense blackness of the twilight.

**A Short Interlude**

Uzuki swung her scythe through the shadow beast, immediately turning it into twilight among contact. They still hadn't found the shadow beast that had taken the spirit's soul, but they had just started looking. Besides, the shadow beast that took the soul would probably look bigger, scarier, and apparently, stronger too.

Yashiro was punching through several shadow beasts at once, trying her hardest to avoid the annoying twilight walls that would show up at any given moment. Yashiro was strong, but even her fists couldn't break through the walls.

Mitsuhiro was sapping time out from the shadow beasts' life spans with his Time Distorter, and when he was finished, he would laugh and watch the beasts fall to the ground and turn into twilight. If he was occupied using his Time Distorter, he would use his free hand and stab any remaining monsters with his katana.

But even with the mass amount of twilight beasts they killed, they still hadn't found the one that contained the spirit's soul.

And Link and Shuto hadn't contacted them either.

Mitsuhiro stabbed the final beast he saw with his katana. He took a moment to catch his breath, and sighed when he realized all the shadow beasts in this area were gone.

Even if he hated the kid's guts, he still wished Link were here to help.


	24. Search

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 24: Search**

Hours passed, but Shuto, Miu and I never managed to find the spring. Mitsuhiro's group had contacted us several times over the hours, asking us if we had found it, but we always responded with a 'no'. They hadn't found the shadow beast yet either. And the twilight had covered over the entire area of Kakariko, including Death Mountain. There was no doubt that it was in Zora's Domain too. The really weird thing was that we hadn't stumbled across any of the villagers yet.

Shuto and I walked up the ramp leading to the doors of the windmill. I looked at my Triforce, which I had covered over with bandages because I couldn't hold my sleeve much longer. I didn't know how much more darkness I could take, let alone my Triforce. I wanted the twilight out of here as fast as possible, but it wouldn't be gone until we found the spring, which wasn't working out as well as I'd hoped.

"Come on, we haven't looked in here yet," Shuto muttered, pointing to the windmill doors.

"Why would a spring be inside a windmill?" I snickered.

"You never know, there could be a secret passage or something. Let's just go inside." Shuto pushed open the huge doors, and we stepped inside the dark room. I remained silent, and looked around for any other doors. Shuto was carrying a lantern, lighting the path. The Reapers were used to the darkness, and they could see in the dark, but he knew that I hadn't gotten used to the twilight yet, so he carried the lantern around to help me was strange though, the quieter it got, the louder the noise became. It was a small sound, and it was very hard to hear, but once I focused my listening on the sound, it almost sounded like music. A haunting kind of music.

"Shh...," I hushed at Shuto. "Do you hear that?"

"Of course I heard it, I heard it ever since I stepped foot inside. I have better hearing than you do, Link. Because of my loud instrument, my ears have become stronger."

"Alright, but what is it?"

Shuto waved his lantern around, lighting up the walls, trying to find the source of the haunting music. After listening to it for a while, it started to sound like a song I knew. After listening to it for a few minutes, I knew exactly what song it was. It was the Song of Storms. Which meant the person playing the music was Guru-Guru.

I looked around, trying to see him, but even after walking the entire perimeter of the inside of the windmill, he was nowhere to be found.

"Would you quit searching for him?" Shuto asked me. "You'll never find him, no matter how hard you look."

"But I _know _he's here!" I objected. "There are only four people I know who would play that song regularly. Me, Flats and his brother Sharp, and Guru-Guru himself. It's obviously not me, and Flats and Sharp are dead, who now reside in Ikana Valley in Termina! Sure, their graves are here, but it can't be them!"

"If it is Guru-Guru, then there's no chance you'll find him while there's twilight over Kakariko. You don't know what happens when a person meets the twilight? They turn into ghosts. Spirits."

"You mean they're _dead_?" I screamed, panicking at his remark.

"No, they're not dead! Their souls have separated from the bodies. If we can get rid of the twilight, they'll turn back into humans again. You won't be able to see them as they are now. All you'll see is a blue flame. Miu can see them though. It's just the way her eyes work, kind of like a sixth sense."

Miu began to run around in circles, almost as if she was chasing her tail. When she was done, she looked up at Shuto.

"Really Miu?" Shuto asked her. "Can you show us where he is?"

"What did she tell you?" I asked, amazed that he could actually tell what the cat was telling him.

"She's found Guru-Guru. Come on, she's going to show us where he is."

I followed Shuto as he followed Miu to the back of the room, into a dark corner that I hadn't noticed before. It was there that I saw a blue fire, spouting small blue embers away from itself. It was small, and shaped almost like a sphere. The music had gotten louder too.

Miu sniffed the flame, and then stood right next to it, as if telling us that this flame was him. She purred softly.

"I guess we can't exactly talk to him while he's in this form," I muttered.

"Afraid not," Shuto agreed. "If we could see him it would be a different story, but as long as he looks like a flame, talking to him would be impossible. Anyways, we should focus on finding that spring first."

"But we've searched everywhere!" I groaned. "Death Mountain, the graveyard, the windmills, Zora River, Zora's Domain, the Ice Caverns... everywhere."

"Well, it's not like a spirit's spring can disappear! This is the only place we haven't looked yet, so let's keep looking for it!"

I groaned again. This job was getting boring, but... I didn't want Kakariko or Zora's Domain to be covered in twilight forever... I really had no choice...

"Hey Link, can you give me a boost?" Shuto asked me. He was standing on one of the iron boxes near the spinning platform, trying to reach the beam above. He had set his lantern down on the floor. The platform was moving slowly, so I jumped across it, over to where Shuto had gotten to. I cupped my hands, and he stepped onto my palms. He grabbed the beam, and pulled himself up from my hands. When he was completely on the beam, he reached his arms down, and pulled me up. When I was up, he released my arms, and turned towards the small rectangular wooden platforms that were jutting out from the pillar that supported the spinning platform.

"You're gonna jump?" I asked him.

"The platform is going slow, so if I do fall, I won't get hurt. Also, I have wings, remember?"

Actually, I totally forgot. The Reapers didn't use their wings very often, so it was weird whenever I saw them actually fly with them.

Shuto prepared to jump, waiting for the pillar to turn so that the wooden platform was facing him, and then leaped over to the platform, landing right on the wood. He slowly moved as the platform spun him around. He waved at me for me to go next. Miu flew past me, and landed on Shuto's lap.

I waited for the next platform, and when it was near, I jumped over the gap separating me from the pillar. I landed safely, but I was worried the entire time that I would fall. Unlike the Reapers, I didn't have wings. I was on the other side of Shuto here.

"Alright, now let's go over there!" Shuto said, pointing at a wooden ledge with a big opening at the end. He jumped onto the ledge, and I followed, along with Miu. We walked down through the opening, trying not to fall down the stairs. Shuto had forgotten to get the lantern back, so he had to lead me down through the dark tunnel. Finally, we reached a large white room, surrounded by candles. At least now I could see my own two hands.

Then I remembered where we were. We were underneath the graveyard, where, seven years from now, Dampe would soon reside. I remembered the time he gave me his hookshot because I beat him in his race. He was still alive now, but it was sad to think that he would die soon. Despite his scary face, he wasn't all that bad of a guy; he was actually really nice.

"Wow, didn't think this was here," Shuto muttered, and began to examine the area. "Seems a bit strange, huh Link?"

"I guess you could call it strange," I replied. "But there has to be something down here, right?"

"Exactly. Let's start looking." Shuto began to tap his fingers against the walls, searching for any other doors. Miu ran around the room, probably trying to find any other spirits. I searched the room too. The spring could probably be in here. This room looked like it was taken care of well, there was no dust, the candles were still lit, and the surface of the white walls weren't cracked or worn down. But even with all the candles lighting this place, it still seemed dark from all the twilight surfacing from the floor.

I walked up to a wall that stood out from the rest. It almost looked like a door, but it didn't look like it would move. It was blue, and it had the symbol of the Temple of Time embedded on the front. I pulled out my Ocarina of Time, and began to play the Song of Time. When I finished, the blue wall turned into a burst of light, and disappeared.

Shuto ran up next to me. "So there is a door!" he said. "Good job Link!"

I put my ocarina back into my bag, and looked through the new door revealed from the block. I walked inside, Shuto following close behind me. It was darker in here, but as I continued to walk, candles began to ignite along the walls. Once all the candles were lit, I could clearly see a spring in the middle of the room.

We found it.

"Please tell me this is the spring, Shuto," I groaned.

"It sure is! Come on, let's go talk to the spirit!" He ran up to the spring. I really hadn't seen Shuto so energetic before. "Come on Link!"

I sighed, and ran up next to him in front of the spring. The water was clean, and really clear. I could see my reflection in it. Small orbs of light were rising from the spring, mixed with the occasional bit of twilight, and fairies were darting around. It was strange to see fairies in a place like this; they usually only hung out at Fairy Fountains, or Great Fairy Fountains.

Shuto poked the metal on my headband. "You know, you look kinda cool with that thing on. You almost look like a leader."

"Whatever, can we just wake the spirit? I don't know how much more of this twilight I can take."

"Alright, alright." Shuto gently tapped his index and middle fingers against the water, sending ripples against it. We waited for a moment. Suddenly, a sphere of light floated up from beneath the water. I could hear a faint noise coming from it, almost as if it were speaking.

"Guar...dian... of... Light...," the light hissed. It was the spirit alright.

"Go on up Link," Shuto urged. "It wants to speak with you." He pushed me up onto the stone pedestal in front of the spring. The light began to glow even brighter.

"Yes... you are indeed the Guardian of Light... the Hero of Time... but... there is an entity of darkness with you..."

I glanced at Shuto, knowing the spirit was talking about him. "He is, but he won't cause any harm. He's on the side of the light."

"A shadow being... on the side of the light...? That's... uncommon..."

"I know it is, but he wishes to stop the darkness from taking over our world."

"If you insist, oh Hero... then I shall accept him as a comrade... but as the situation stands, we don't have much time left..."

"Then is there anything we can do to help?"

"My soul... was taken by a being of darkness... I need you to retrieve it..."

"My other companions are already doing that as we speak. They should be finding your soul soon."

"Then bring it here, to me... hurry, the twilight shall soon take over the entire world..."

I nodded. The light began to fade, disappearing back into the water.

Shuto pulled out his C.T. crystal, and turned it on. Mitsuhiro appeared on the screen.

"Hey!" Mitsuhiro greeted. "Have you found the spring yet?"

"Yeah," Shuto answered. "We just need you to bring the soul here. How are things over there?"

"Well, we've defeated all the shadow beasts we can lay our eyes on, but none of them seem to have the soul of the spirit. We've checked everywhere, Uzuki has searched all the secret places she knew about, but there's nothing. Yashiro even has a special map that shows us where it is, but we can't find it anywhere!"

"Alright, keep looking, we'll send Miu out to find you guys, and then when you find the soul, she can lead you back here."

"Okay, but hurry. Uzuki's starting to feel pretty stupid right now, and Yashiro's getting... irritable."

**An Interlude**

_"Where the hell is that damn spirit?"_ Yashiro screamed, and kicked the side of a house, making a hole in the wall.

"Why can't I find it?" Uzuki complained, banging her head against the wall of a different house. "Stupid brain! Think!"

"Would you two cut it out?" Mitsuhiro screamed. "I swear, you two can be the most annoying people in the world when you're both complaining together!" He grabbed the robe hoods of both girls, and threw them to the ground. "Now listen up, Shuto and Link have found the spirit, and they're sending Miu over here! Both of you get your act together so we can find the soul!"

"Mitsuhiro, it's hopeless right now!" Uzuki argued. "We've searched _everywhere!_ And our stupid map isn't telling us a thing!" Yashiro handed Uzuki the map, and she held it open wide to Mitsuhiro's face. "It keeps telling us that the monster is at the bottom of the well, but guess what? We've searched there! Do you know how many Floor Masters and ReDeads I've run into down there! Enough to give me nightmares until I'm sixty! And I can tell you, it's easy for me to have nightmares! I hope you're happy!"

"Well, have you tried searching _around _the well?" Mitsuhiro asked sarcastically.

"Very funny, your humor irritates me so much."

"Huh? That's weird...," Yashiro interrupted, grabbing the map from Uzuki's hands. She examined it closely, squinting her eyes. "Uzuki, it moved!" She showed her the map. "Look! It's by the windmill now!"

"What the..." Uzuki grabbed the map, and began to watch as the glowing blue dot on the map moved around the windmill. Then it zipped to the backyard of the Skulltula house. "Why can't we see it?"

"You don't think it's only visible using the sixth sense, do you?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"I hope not," Yashiro groaned. "It'll be a real pain in the ass to fight if it is."

"Let's just wait until Miu gets-" Mitsuhiro was cut off when a huge ball of electricity struck him to the ground. Uzuki screamed, and pushed Yashiro out of the way before it could strike them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Uzuki screeched, and jumped up from the ground. She backed up from the electric ball. She felt something land on her right shoulder.

It was Miu, and she was carrying something really strange. Uzuki grabbed it, and examined it.

It was the Lens of Truth. There was a note pinned to it.

Hey guys,

The spirit said that the monster that took its soul could not be seen by the human (and in this case, Reaper too) eye. Link is sending this with Miu so you can beat it. I don't know what the monster is, but tell Yashiro to kick its ass!

Shuto

Uzuki held the mirror up, and peered through its lenses. She could see what it was clearly now.

"Eww! It's a bug!" she screeched. "A huge, disgusting, slimy bug!"

Yashiro grabbed the mirror from her hands, and peered through. "Yeah, I admit, it _is_ rather disgusting, but we can just squish it!"

"Ew, I am _not_ fighting this thing!"

"Oh, don't be a baby." Yashiro grabbed Uzuki's wrist, and pulled her towards the monster. She threw the Lens of Truth to Mitsuhiro, allowing him to see what it was. After he saw the monster, he prepared his katana and his Time Distorter. He used the lens to leap at the monster and strike it down. The ball of electricity fell to the ground.

"Go get it Uzuki!" Yashiro cheered. Uzuki pulled out her scythe, and very nervously, swung the blade across the ball of eletricity. She could hear a screech from the monster, and then she ran away, not wanting to get any closer to the bug, even though she couldn't see it.

Mitsuhiro stuck his Time Distorter into thin air, where he predicted the monster was, and began to suck out its lifespan. Suddenly, a huge burst of electricity shot out and struck him, throwing him against the side of a house. The monster shrieked. Mitsuhiro jumped back to his feet, his katana ready to fight again.

"Get out of the way, bug!" Yashiro growled, and shot several blades from her kunai gun into the monster, a few of them mission because she couldn't see where it exactly was. Mitsuhiro tossed the Lens of Truth to Yashiro so that she could aim properly. Uzuki would only step in every so often to hit the monster with her scythe, but half the time, she was too scared to even look at the ball of electricity. Yashiro even offered her the Lens of Truth, but she rejected it so that she wouldn't have to see the bug's creepy body.

In the end though, the monster wasn't all that hard to defeat. Sure, the group got stung with electricity every so often, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. Uzuki ended up fighting with it more than she expected to, and even took down her fear by looking at the monster with the Lens of Truth. Yashiro would punch it to the ground, and shoot at it with her kunai gun, and Mitsuhiro would slash at it with his katana and suck the life out of it with his Time Distorter.

And in the end, Uzuki ended up killing it with a final slash with her scythe. When the monster died, it became visible to our eyes, and we watched it as it turned into twilight and the electricity disappeared. All that was left was a floating golden orb of light, the soul of the spirit of Kakariko.

Mitsuhiro walked up to it, and pulled out a round clear capsule. He opened it, and captured the light inside.

"We did it...," Uzuki groaned, and fell to her knees. "Please... don't ever make me fight a bug like that again..."

"Hypocrite," Mitsuhiro laughed.

**Chapter 24 (continued)**

I sat against the white wall of the underground room with Shuto, waiting for Miu and the rest of the group to arrive. Shuto was calmly playing a soft tune on his flute, tapping his feet against the floor to the rhythm. I remained silent, thinking of a bunch of different things at once. What if the rest of the group were even still alive? Was the monster bigger than we had predicted? And did Miu even make it to them safely? These thoughts sent more and more confusions and ideas through my head.

Shuto pulled away from his flute. "Don't worry, they'll be back soon." It was almost like he was reading my mind.

"I just hope they didn't get hurt," I muttered. The C.T. crystal around my neck began to glow. I turned it on.

"Link, we've found the soul!" Mitsuhiro said proudly. "We're coming your way!"

I smiled. Those were the exact words I wanted to hear. "That's great! We'll wait here for you!"

The C.T. crystal turned off. Shuto looked at me.

"That was Mitsuhiro, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Yep, they're coming here! That spirit is going to be resurrected soon!" I stood up, and crossed my arms. "We just... have to wait for them."

Shuto and I waited for what felt like an eternity. I knew we were only waiting for about ten minutes, but it felt longer because we were both anxious to get the spirit revived and the twilight out of Kakariko.

Shuto put his flute away, and pulled out a piece of paper. He began folding it, making funny shapes out of it. He held the finished item at me. It was the Triforce. I gave him a funny look.

"What?" he asked me. "I'm bored..."

We waited even longer. What was taking Mitsuhiro and the others so long? I didn't like waiting for stuff like this, it just bored the heck out of me.

Finally, we heard footsteps coming down the stairway in the tunnel. Shuto and I jumped up, excited to finally see our other half of the team. Mitsuhiro, Uzuki, Yashiro, and Miu came running into the room.

"Hey you guys!" Uzuki greeted.

Mitsuhiro held up a glowing clear capsule. "We got the soul."

"Yeah, but what took you guys so long?" Shuto asked. "We waited forever!"

"Well, after we found the soul, we got attacked by a few other shadow beasts that were refusing to die," Mitsuhiro explained. "But we took care of them." He tossed the capsule over to me. "Go give the spirit its soul back."

I caught the capsule, and examined the light glowing from inside it. I felt strange when I looked at it, almost like I was being filled with warmth. I carried the capsule into the room with the spring, and stood on the pedestal. The rest of the group watched me as I lifted the lid of the capsule. The glowing light hovered out from its container, and floated over to the spring. I watched it with wonder, as it dipped into the water, disappearing. A strange glowing circle formed around the spring, and from the depths of the water, a huge golden bird arose. Its wings were huge, each individual feather glowing like gold.

"I thank you, oh Hero," the spirit said, its voice clearer thanks to its returned soul. "And I thank you as well, spirits of the dark."

Mitsuhiro bowed. "The twilight shall start disappearing from this land, right?"

"Yes, the twilight should be disappearing as we speak."

"Are there any other regions that have ended up like this?" I asked curiously.

The bird lowered its head. "I am afraid so. The Kokiri province is no doubt becoming covered in twilight. You must awaken the spirit Fado."

I nodded, and the spirit flew downwards, disappearing into the water.

"Well," I began, and turned to the Reapers. "Who's ready for another mission?"


	25. Twilight Take Two

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 25: Twilight Take-Two**

The Kokiri Forest.

Home to the fairies and the Kokiri children themselves.

It was also the place where I grew up.

Where I had met Mido, Saria, the Know-it-All Brothers, and all the other people I had been forced to live with. Especially Mido.

"Listen, I don't want to be seen while I'm there, you got that?" I asked Mitsuhiro. "It's bad enough that I'm even setting foot in this place!"  
Mitsuhiro, Uzuki, and Yashiro began to walk across the bridge leading to the forest gate. Mitsuhiro groaned.

"Listen, it's bad enough that we have to stay in this world for another mission," he grumbled. "But please, don't complain? The Kokiri children don't grow up. You do, so it's not like they're going to recognize you."  
"Alright, but just to be safe..." I pulled my goggles over my eyes, took my hat off (something that I pretty much _never _do), tied bandages around my entire left arm, instead of just over my Triforce, and made sure I was wearing as many shuriken holsters as possible.

Shuto gave me a funny look. "Listen, the moment we step foot into the gate, we're stepping into the twilight. The Kokiri are going to be _spirits_. It's not like it makes any difference."

"Listen, do you know what Mido said to me when I left?" I asked in a low voice. "'Leave for Hyrule... and never come back!'. That kid hates my guts, and I hate him! I shouldn't even be here!"

"I don't want to see Link when he's an adult...," Uzuki muttered to Yashiro.

"I heard that!" I growled.

"Stop being so grumpy Link-kun," Yashiro laughed, and punched my shoulder. I was pretty sure I heard my shoulder bone snap.

"Hey, careful!" I laughed back. "Unlike you, my bones are actually fragile!"

"No problem, Link-kun!" It was strange, the way Uzuki and Yashiro addressed their friends. I didn't really understand it, but I think I figured it out. Maybe 'chan' was for girls, and 'kun' was for boys? Oh well, I would have to ask them later.

Yashiro punched my shoulder again, and smiled at Uzuki. "Hey, is everyone ready to go into the twilight? Once we go in, it's hard getting back out again."

"No problem!" I snickered. "Too easy!"

Shuto raised his eyebrow, and smiled deviously. "Alright then, how about we raise the stakes a little?"

"Is that really safe at a time like this?" Uzuki asked.

"Don't worry, it'll be easy. Yashiro, Uzuki and I will stay here, and Link and Mitsuhiro have to do the mission! If they succeed, they get day offs for the next three missions! If they fail, well, than they'll have to watch us complete the mission that they couldn't complete. In other words, total humiliation!"

I stared at him with a sarcastic look. I ran up to him, and glared at him in the eyes. Mitsuhiro did the same thing.

"I will _never_ agree to a bet like that!" I growled. Although I could use the day off. I hadn't gotten any sleep in a few days, not since the fire at Lon Lon Ranch. But did I have to work with Mitsuhiro of all people!  
"You're asking for death, Kaniji!" Mitsuhiro snapped.

"Mitsuhiro has a point," Uzuki muttered. "This mission is too important to put in the hands of a dangerous bet. You know exactly what happens when those two work together."

"Well, I guess they're going to have to learn how to get along," Shuto snickered. "Because the bet is on!"

Mitsuhiro backed up, and growled. "Listen up, loser." He pointed to me. "I guess we have no choice, but guess what? You aren't allowed to walk any closer to me than five feet, and if you disobey an order, you're getting thrown off a cliff!"

I chuckled, and cracked my knuckles. "And who says I have to listen to you?"

"I'm the leader of the Time Keepers. You're the lowest member right now, so you have to listen to me."

Darn it, I had forgotten all about that. It really sucked that he was the leader. Why couldn't it have been Shuto, or Uzuki, or even Yashiro? And anyways, Shuto was the one that founded the Time Keepers, so why wasn't he the leader?

"Fine, Shuto, I'll go along with your little game," I sighed. "Sheesh, you're even worse than Majora's Mask, and that's saying something!"

"No, don't say that!" Uzuki laughed. She sat down on the bridge, and Yashiro sat next to her.

"I guess we'll hang out here," Shuto laughed, and sat down next to Yashiro. "Go on! The twilight isn't going to wait for you!"

I frowned at him, and he smiled. "You're going to pay for this later!" I growled, and ran inside to the village. Mitsuhiro later followed me, walking at his own slow pace. When I was inside the village, I cringed when I saw all the twilight. I didn't like seeing it surrounding my homeland, where I had grown up. The first thing I wanted to do was find Saria, Mido, and the rest of the gang.

"Mitsuhiro," I said when I saw that he had finally caught up to me. "You should go after the monster, and I should look for the spring." Really, I just wanted to see my old tree house. The farther away I was from him, the better.

Miu perked her head from my bag. At least I wasn't totally alone. I looked at Mitsuhiro. He was staring up at the twilight sky. "Hey, are you going to start looking anytime soon?" I asked him in an angry tone.

"I don't have the map," he replied in a low voice. "Yashiro and Uzuki have it. This is going to take longer than usual."

"So, what are you going to do?" I asked sarcastically. It started to rain. The rain landed right in Mitsuhiro's face, but he didn't care. He just continued to stare up at the sky.

"Rely on my senses and my wits. Think for a second: where would a monster holding a spirit's soul hide in a huge forest?"

I sighed. "Maybe in the Lost Woods?"

"That's a good prediction. In this case, maybe you should be the one to get the monster."

"And why should I?"

"One, because I'm all worn out from the last one in Kakariko. Two, you're the only one who knows the right pathway through the Lost Woods without getting sent back to the beginning again. And three..." He looked at me with a smirk on his face. "Well, I just want to see you get your ass kicked."

I crossed my arms, and smirked back. I knew he was challenging me. "Alright then, you go find the spring, and I'll find the monster, and beat it to a tiny pulp!"  
Mitsuhiro laughed with amusement. "Good luck with that." He spread out his wings, and flew off into the darkness of the twilight sky. I would show him that I was stronger. I had to. How else would I get him to stop picking on me?

I looked around the forest, examining all the houses and trees. There were blue flames spread out all throughout Kokiri Village. My friends... turned into spirits. It was sickening, and it made me angry to know that if I didn't save this place, the entire land of Hyrule would look like this.

I walked through the village, watching as the blue flames jumped around with the bodies of the Kokiri children. The spirits that I guessed were the Know-it-All Brothers were all sitting in front of their house, circled around a table. I could see their fairies flying around their heads. Unlike the Kokiri however, they hadn't disappeared.

Maybe I would meet Navi here?

I stopped walking when I found myself in front of my old tree house. Boy, did this place bring back memories. And there was only one question that lingered in my mind from my future self: who the hell put a cow in my room?

I remembered when I lived here, and each day I would play with the Kokiri children. Mido and I would always be mean to each other, and Saria would always try to break up our fights.

And I was always the boy that didn't have a fairy.

So when I got Navi, you can understand that I was filled with joy, but our partnership didn't last forever, and we were soon separated when I left for Termina. I still wanted to see her, and I had a chance of meeting with her here, because this was probably the first place she went to after we were separated. Fairies never liked being separated from the forest for long.

I walked up the sloping cliff towards the entrance to the Lost Woods. I could pretty much see a clear view of the village from here, even a little bit past the trees that led to the Great Deku Tree's home. Sadly, there would be no chance of me seeing him there, thanks to Ganondorf. I was beginning to wonder how the Kokiri children were even surviving without the wisdom of their Deku Tree, but then again, they did have the newborn Deku Tree that had begun to grow. I wondered how he was doing with the Kokiri children, and if they had taken a liking to their new leader.

I checked the sign that was next to the entrance to the Lost Woods.

_Do not enter_

_-Mido_

Sure, like I was going to listen to that butthead. Even if the sign was new. I passed the sign, ignoring Mido for the billionth time in my entire life, and entered the woods. The treetops grew over top me, covering up multiple sections of the twilight sky. There weren't any animals around, but I could expect to see Wolfos appearing any minute now.

I take a left, and walk across the platforms through a forest meadow. Each time I came across more doors, I would stop and think about which one was the right one. It had been a long time since I was here, so remembering what path to take was tricky. I eventually went with the right one, and sighed in relief when I wasn't sent back to the start. I wonder why Mido had put up a warning sign for this place? I hadn't seen any monsters yet, and the place seemed just fine considering it was covered in twilight.

After navigating my way through the woods for a few minutes, I did start to notice some things had changed since the last time I was here. There were some new trees, and there were also stray fairies flying around, fairies that didn't belong to a Kokiri child. That had never happened before. Fairies that didn't belong to Kokiri children were either not born yet, or were under the protection of the Deku Tree, like Navi before she became my partner.

As I walked through the forest, I kept my eyes peeled for any sort of monster that might have been holding the soul of the spirit. I flinched a few times when I heard something move, but it was always just a stray fairy flying around. It was strange seeing stray fairies here, and not in Clock Town.

**A Short Interlude**

Mitsuhiro walked around the gigantic dead Deku Tree, the new Deku Tree growing suspicious of him. He knew that the previous Deku Tree looked gloomy after it died to begin with, but with the twilight added, it looked haunting, and sad.

"Can you please leave?" the little Deku Tree wailed. "You're making me nervous!" The only reason Mitsuhiro could see the tree in the twilight was because it was a plant, and it didn't have a soul like a regular human or fairy did.

"Tell me, is there a spring around here?" Mitsuhiro asked for the tenth time that day.

"Why should I tell you that?" it snapped. "How do I know you're not after our spirit, Faron?"

"Listen to me, that spirit is gonna be long gone if you don't tell me where the spring is!" Mitsuhiro began to raise his voice. He gritted his teeth, trying not to be tempted to kill the little tree. "I can bring Faron back!"

"And why should I trust you?" Why did this tree have to be so arrogant?

Mitsuhiro sighed, and decided to tell the truth. "Alright, fine, I'm a companion of Link's. The Kokiri boy that used to live here, remember?"

The Deku Tree gasped, and smiled. "Well that changes everything! The spring is in a small meadow near Link's house! The gateway to this meadow is behind a wooden door that's on the boulder behind the house! The door is new, so that's why Link's never heard about it before."

Why in the world was everything always connected to Link?

**Chapter 25 (continued)**

I had been walking for fifteen minutes, and I still hadn't found the monster. In fact, I hadn't seen _any_ monster since I walked into the twilight, which worried me deeply. And since I was starting to end up using the same paths in the Lost Woods over again, it was only a matter of time before I screwed up and was sent back to the beginning of the woods. I would even pay attention to the sky in case any of those weird shadow portals had appeared in the sky, but every time I looked, there was nothing, just black clouds covering over the small amount of light that was getting through.

I picked at the bandages wrapped around my left hand. This twilight was really starting to get to me, and I couldn't stand the feeling of bandages around the Triforce. I wondered if Mitsuhiro had found the spring yet. Then I remembered that I still had my C.T. Crystal, so I decided to contact him, much to my dismay.

When the screen appeared over the crystal, I saw an angry looking Mitsuhiro.

"What do you want?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Where did you find the monster back in Kakariko?" I asked him.

"Huh? Well let's see... um, I'm pretty sure it attacked _me _first!" I could tell he was being sarcastic with me.

"No need for jokes," I muttered. "Is there anything I should be looking for? I haven't seen any trace of monsters since I entered the twilight."

"Yeah, neither have I. But I did manage to get the information of where the spring is from that Deku Tree. By the way, where's your house?"

"What are you planning to do, rob me?"

"No, you have nothing worth taking. The spring is in a cave near your house, which is covered with a door."

"Huh, that's strange. I don't remember that being there."

Mitsuhiro rolled his eyes. "It seems the Deku Tree and the Kokiri children didn't care if they meddled with your property. Apparently the door is new. So where's your house?"

"It's a tree house, on the east side of the village. There are drawings on the tree trunk." I looked at him seriously. "And _stay out of my house. _I don't want to return there with half my stuff gone."

"No promises," he snickered, and before I could get another word in, he turned off his crystal. I guess I just had to... trust him.

**A Short Interlude**

Mitsuhiro approached the small tree house mounted up on a tall pine tree. He looked at the trunk to make sure it was the right place. Funny chalk drawings were on the bark, just like Link had said. The drawings made him laugh: a doodle which he guessed was Link fighting a giant dinosaur-looking monster. He wondered if Link's drawing skills had gotten any better, now that he was thirteen. Probably not. That kid spent so much time training, that he probably wouldn't have any chance to just sit down and draw, almost like Uzuki did. Of course, unlike Uzuki, he didn't need to have drawing skills to fight.

Mitsuhiro walked around the perimeter of the small area, and saw a tall wooden door mounted into the boulder. It looked easy to open. As he approached the door, he saw a sign sticking from the ground.

_Do not enter_

_-Mido_

Wasn't Mido the guy that Link hated? There must have been a reason he put up that sign, probably to keep people away. And the only reason to keep people away from a spirit's spring is monsters. Shadow beasts to be more accurate. Or maybe, considering the door was right behind the house, it was to keep _Link_ away. Maybe Mido was actually worried about Link. But there was no chance Mistuhiro would ever worry about the little brat.

The little brat who, sadly to say, was stronger than he ever would be.

Mitsuhiro kicked the side of the tree trunk in anger. Why was Link stronger than him? Why was Link so much better than him? And teaching Link his own abilities was just making the kid even stronger! And he was sick of Uzuki, Shuto, and Yashiro telling him to get along with the little brat!

"Dammit!" Mitsuhiro screamed to himself. "Why do I have to put up with him!" He sighed, calming himself down, and turned towards the door. He pushed it open, and was relieved when he saw the spring and knew that the Deku Tree wasn't lying just to get rid of him.

He stepped inside, but felt stupid the moment his foot was caught in a rope and he was pulled up, hanging upside-down from the ceiling by his ankle. He should have known the dang Kokiri kids would think of something to keep intruders out.

"Ugh, stupid kids...," he growled to himself as he took out a kunai from his holster around his waist. He carefully attempted to lift himself up, and began cutting through the rope that was tied around his ankle. When the kunai finally broke the rope, he twisted his body as he fell, landing on his feet. He put the kunai back into his holster. He kicked the rest of the rope off his leg, and then continued on towards the spirit. That trick the Kokiri children pulled on him... at least now he knew where Link got his stupidity from.

**Chapter 25 (continued)**

An hour of walking through the Lost Woods, and I never found the monster. Maybe this was all just a waste of my time, and the monster was hiding somewhere else... but where? Mitsuhiro was in the village, and he hadn't told me he had seen it, so it couldn't have been there. Maybe it was inside the Great Deku Tree? That could be possibility. As long as the monster didn't resemble anything of Queen Gohma. I did not want to fight it for a third time.

After walking for another five minutes to make sure the monster wasn't here, I left the woods, and made my way to the Great Deku Tree's home. When I saw the tree, it looked even gloomier than death with the color of the twilight added. The new Deku Tree was planted in front of it, a childish smile on its face. It didn't look much bigger than the last time I had seen it, but then again, the Deku Tree I knew so well was probably, I don't know, seven hundred when it died? Which meant little Deku Tree had a long way to go. It was only three.

"Link!" the little Deku Tree yelled when it saw me. "I can't believe it's you!" I had a feeling that the tree would want to hug me, if only it wasn't glued to the ground. "How are you? Where did you go? Oh my, you look so much older now!"

If I had worn my robe, he probably wouldn't have recognized me.

"It's good to see you too, Deku Tree," I laughed.

"Even your voice has changed!"

What was he, my mother?

"Uh, thanks?" I laughed again. "Hey Deku Tree, I need to ask you a favor."

"Oh, someone was here asking me a favor about an hour ago. Said he was looking for the entrance to the spring. I told him because he was claiming he was your companion. Now I can actually trust him!"

That must have been Mitsuhiro. "Anyways, I was wondering if you've seen any monsters around."

He frowned, which was probably the weirdest thing I had ever seen him do. "The forest has changed recently, Link. About two days ago, strange men appeared in the forest. They wore black robes, and hoods that went over their faces. They demanded that I tell them where the spirit was, but I refused. Then they asked me where _you_ were, but again, I refused, mostly because I _didn't _know where you were, but if I did, I still wouldn't have told them, just to let you know."

"Thanks," I muttered. "But you could have told them. I could have handled them. I've gotten stronger, and I have a few friends to back me up. And anyways, if you had told them, maybe this forest wouldn't have been covered in twilight."

"Is that what this is? Hmm, I wonder if the previous Deku Tree had any problems with this."

"I don't think so," I laughed. "So, besides the men in the black robes, have you seen any other monsters since this twilight began?"

"Well, there were a lot at first, but then they all disappeared for some reason. Every night though, or at least I'm guessing at night, you can't really tell with this twilight, a shriek can be heard. It must scare the death out of the Kokiri children. But I haven't seen the source of the shriek. Mido has even done the job of putting up warning signs around the village where he thinks there will be a monster. In fact, he did this a little while before the twilight began. There's a sign near the Lost Woods, a sign underneath the suspension bridge that leads here, a sign in that cave where you found your sword, and a sign behind your house, where the spring is."

Great, so now I had to put up with Mido's stupid signs. "How is Mido and Saria anyways?" I asked. I was more concerned about Saria than Mido though.

"They both miss you. Especially Mido."

_Wow, that's a first, _I thought.

The tree smiled again. "So be sure to say hello to him once you get rid of this twilight!"

"Uh, I'll see what I can do," I muttered back, and waved goodbye to the tree. "See you later, Deku Tree."

"That's _Great_ Deku Tree to you!" the tree laughed as I left. Yep, he was definitely still a kid. But then again, I was still a kid too. A kid that couldn't live his life the way he wanted to.

But then again... life was more interesting that way.


	26. Working Alone

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 26: Working Alone**

The Deku Tree didn't exactly tell me where the monster was, did he?

I kicked the ground as I walked. Uzuki, Yashiro, and Shuto were probably wondering what was taking Mitsuhiro and I so long. Leave it to Shuto to come up with dangerous ideas.

The only bit of information I had was that the monster shrieked at night. But I couldn't even tell what time of the day it was here! I would just have to wait until I heard a shriek.

I began to think of places where I could look. Mido had placed warning signs up, right? Which meant that before the twilight was formed, he would have seen strange monsters in the places where he put the signs. The Deku Tree said he put one at the entrance to the Lost Woods, which I had checked, one behind my house, which was probably where Mitsuhiro was right now, one in the cave where I found my sword, but I didn't think a monster would have any purpose to hide there... and one under the _suspension bridge_. Underneath the suspension bridge was another area of the Lost Woods that was inaccessible unless you _jumped off_ the suspension bridge. I would have to go back.

I turned around and ran back towards the entrance, passing the Kokiri spirit that always guarded the door. When I reached the bridge, I saw that the twilight had reached it already. The gang was sitting in a circle, playing _cards_. So, while Mitsuhiro and I were working our butts off, they were playing... Old Maid.

"Oh, hey Link!" Uzuki greeted, but then she had a worried look. "Where's Mitsuhiro?"

"Not now! Too busy!" I yelled, and jumped over them, and off the bridge.

"And he's gone again," I heard Uzuki mutter as I landed in the land below.

However, I did_ not_ anticipate there to be poisonous fog on the ground.

I coughed, and held the collar of my shirt to my nose and mouth so I wouldn't breathe it in.

"Link!" I heard Shuto yell. "Are you alright down there?"

Dummy. Didn't he know I could respond with words?

I turned around, and waved at him, signaling to him that I was alright.

"What are you doing down there, dumb ass?" Yashiro screamed.

Again with the questions that involved me talking! I nodded, and pointed to the tunnel that lead deeper into the fog.

"Uh, I think he thinks the monster is down there," Uzuki said to Yashiro. Now she was getting it!

"Well, dumb way to find out if you ask me!" Shuto groaned. "Be careful down there Link!"

I shrugged my shoulders, almost as if saying, "Hey, it's your fault I'm down here! So don't tell me what to do!" He seemed to understand, because he turned around with the girls and continued their game of Old Maid.

I did need to hurry though. I wouldn't be able to hold up much longer. It was times like these when I wished I hadn't left my Goron Mask at the base in the Dark Realm. Gorons were rock, so stuff like this didn't affect them. But, I didn't have my mask, so I would just have to make do with what I had. I pulled my scarf from my bag with my free hand, and tied it around the bottom half of my face. I pulled my goggles over my eyes so that the fog didn't infect them or anything.

I ran towards the tunnel, wanting to get out of the fog as quick as possible. But I knew that if the monster was in the tunnel, which it probably was, then the fog would disappear. Either that, or the fog would disappear once I got rid of the twilight. Three days off, here I come!

The inside of the tunnel was dark and murky. Water was dripping from the ceiling, and the fog just felt worse in here. And the farther I walked, the _worse _it got. I had a feeling that I was going to collapse soon.

I felt my C.T. Crystal vibrate from around my neck. I lifted it up, and turned it on. It was Mitsuhiro who had contacted me.

"Hey Link, found the-" he began, but stopped and raised his eyebrow. "Uh, why do I feel like you're going to murder someone?"

He was probably looking at the scarf and goggles.

"No, I didn't find the monster," I replied, but he just burst into laughter.

"Holy crap, you look hilarious!" he laughed. "What happened?"

"Just to let you know, I'm in a patch of poisonous fog, and I think I'm on the monster's trail," I muttered angrily.

Mitsuhiro continued to laugh.

"Really, it's not that funny... anyways, have you found the spring yet?"

He wiped a tear from his eye, and got the rest of the laughs out. I had _never _seen Mitsuhiro laugh so hard. Probably because I felt so humiliated right now.

"I'm sorry...," he giggled. "Yeah, I found the spring, and the spirit too. He wants that soul fast, and I don't think he intends on waiting."

"Alright, I'll hurry. Uzuki, Yashiro, and Shuto are still waiting at the bridge, and the twilight has spread past them."

But he was just laughing. I didn't need to put up with him, so I turned off the crystal, released it from my hand to resume its place around my neck. I walked farther through the tunnel, wondering if Mitsuhiro was still laughing uncontrollably. He probably was. As I walked, I kicked the ground with my toes, hoping that the tunnel would end soon. The fog was _unbelievable_; I was surprised I hadn't choked to death. I was pretty close to choking though. I didn't know how much longer my scarf would be able to hold back the fog.

Finally, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Or in this case, the twilight. When I stepped out from the tunnel, the fog dispersed. There was a lake in front of me, but it looked poisoned, so I decided to stay away from it. I pulled my scarf down, but kept my goggles on. I approached the lake, but I grew nervous of what was underneath the water. I knew there was something there... it was just waiting for me to get too close.

I jumped back when I saw the water ripple. Something was definitely there. I waited for a few minutes, and became calm when nothing appeared. But I nearly jumped ten feet when a huge dragonfly arose from the water.

"What the!" I screamed. It was _huge_. Okay, so first, I want you to imagine a school bus. Now, imagine the size of that bus multiplied by two. The image was pretty big, right? That was exactly how big the dragonfly was. Its wings sounded like motors when they moved, and to make matters worse, there was _electricity_ going through them. Its tail had a giant stinger at the end, and its body had legs with huge claws at the ends of them, which just freaked me out even more. The monster shrieked an ear-piercing cry, which forced me to plug my ears.

The dragonfly flew down towards me, so I dodged him by somersaulting to the right. I drew my sword and shield. Now I really wished Mitsuhiro was here to help. But I already had thought of a way to attack this thing: I would wait until it swooped down again, and then I would strike its face. That would work, right?

I held my sword tightly in my left hand, and my shield in my right. The dragonfly would shoot balls of electricity at me, but I would just block them with my shield, hoping not to get fried to a crisp by the electric bolts. When it started to swoop down, I leaped with my sword high, and struck down on its head as it passed. I was guessing that it lost its vision for a moment, because it immediately dove right into the boulder wall. It flinched, attempting to move, but it was stuck... for the moment. I took the opportunity to attack the body of the dragonfly, avoiding the wings that still had electricity running through them. I struck my sword through the monster, and it squirmed even more, trying to escape from the huge hole it had created in the wall.

After I struck a few more times, it finally escaped, and I jumped back, giving it enough space to fly away without it hitting me. It shrieked again, and flew up to the ceiling of the cave we were in. It planted its claws into the rock ceiling, and then shrieked again. Electricity began to circle around its body, and then it spread throughout the ceiling. Bolts of electricity began to flash to the ground, forcing me to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Suddenly, multiple bolts of electricity began to hit the ground, and I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge them all. I ended up getting hit a lot. It hurt, and the electricity always traveled straight to my brain, causing my entire body to hurt and my ears to ring like high-pitched bells.

When the electric attack finally stopped, and I had shaken off the pain, I prepared my sword for battle again. Goddess Din help me if this monster didn't have the soul. Because you could guess how pissed off I would be if it didn't.

The dragonfly flew down from the ceiling, and began to charge at me again. When I dodged it and it passed me, I made sure to strike it down with a jump strike. When I hit it, it fell to the ground, giving me more chances to attack it. I mostly jump struck it, and used my spin attack. I had to use the strongest of my attacks if I wanted this thing to die quickly.

After doing another jump attack, the dragonfly's wings stopped, and the electricity disappeared. Bingo. I stabbed my blade into the head of the bug, making sure it was going to die before I left it alone. The body began to disintegrate into twilight, and exploded into a burst of shadows. From the shadows, an orb of light rose up.

The spirit's soul, perhaps?

As if on cue, Mitsuhiro appeared from the tunnel. How he found this place, I didn't know. Uzuki and the others probably told him where I was. He walked up next to me, and examined the glowing orb of light.

"Yep, that's definitely the spirit's soul," he muttered, as if reading my mind. Then he looked at the shadow remains of the monster. "Don't tell me you beat up that monster all by yourself? You should have left some of the action for me!" He pulled out a clear round capsule, the same one he had used for Eldin's soul. He opened it, and the orb of light flowed into the capsule. He closed it, and then attached it to his belt next to his kunai holster.

I looked around, and saw that the fog was disappearing. At least now I didn't have to worry about being poisoned inside the tunnel of death. Uzuki, Yashiro, and Shuto were probably still waiting on the bridge, and they would probably keep waiting there until we revived the spirit.

"Alright, let's go, loser," Mitsuhiro muttered. "We shouldn't keep the spirit waiting."

"Hey, who are you calling loser?" I growled. "I just took down a huge monster!"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

When we made it back to the door leading to the spring, I told Mitsuhiro to go ahead and awaken the spirit without me. I wanted to see my old tree house for the first time in three years. But he refused, and even threatened to _drag _me into the spring. So I was forced to come along.

"But I want to see my treehouse...," I whined as he pushed me into the cave.

"You have to meet Faron," he growled. "Do you know how hard it was to convince him I was on your team? He wants to see you with his own eyes."

I groaned, and approached the pedestal. I opened the capsule, and the soul floated out, sinking into the water as it landed. After a moment, a huge spirit rose out from the water. I was expecting it to be a bird like Eldin, so I was surprised when I saw a monkey with its tail curved around an orb of light.

"Ah, so you are Link," the spirit spoke in its godly voice. "My name is Faron. I guard these Kokiri Woods with the aid of the Deku Tree."

"It's nice to meet you," I said. "I'm sorry if my friend here troubled you." I heard Mitsuhiro cough. Probably because he didn't like me addressing me as his 'friend'. I didn't like it any more than he did though.

"Thank you then, for saving the Kokiri forest. By the way, one of the children has been coming here often. She goes by the name of Saria."

"How is she doing?"

"She is doing well. She prays to the goddesses and the spirits here, and sometimes, she talks to me when she's bored."

"Oh... could you say hello to her for me?"

"You have your own words. Say hello to her before you leave."

I looked down to my feet, not wanting to look the spirit in the eyes. "I... I can't... I'm on a dangerous journey right now, and I don't want to drag them into it... especially Saria."

"If that's what you wish, then I will give them your greeting the next time I see them. Until then, there is something I must ask you. The Deku Tree had sent a message to me a little while back, a bit before the twilight started. He said there were two men in black robes, and they were demanding to know where my spring was. They found out on their own apparently, and as a result, my soul was taken. So my question is, who are these people exactly?"

I felt nervous to share the information about the Society, but considering Faron was a spirit of the goddesses, I decided to speak. "These men... they are from an organization called the Society. They are a group of Reapers... people who have died with revenge in their hearts, and have transformed into... I don't really know how to explain it, so I'll just show you." I turned to Mitsuhiro, and he nodded, walking up next to me on the pedestal. He spread his wings out, revealing the true nature of his kind.

"So this man is of the same species, but he's on your side?" Faron asked.

"Yes. He's a member of the Time Keepers, a group of Reapers who want to rebel against the order of the Society. Because, if you didn't already know, the Society wants to... revive the King of Evil."

Faron became silent. Then he finally responded, "Then you must find a way to stop them, whatever it takes."

I smiled. "Don't worry, they can't revive him without me, so I'll give them a good beating."

"Then good luck, Link," the spirit said, and disappeared into the lake.

Mitsuhiro hit me over the back of my head with his palm.

"Hey! What was that for?" I screamed.

"Hurry it up, loser," he muttered. "Uzuki doesn't like waiting."

"You know, you're no better than Mido!"

He snickered, and walked out of the cave behind me. When he stepped out, he looked surprised.

"Oh, what do you know, there's Mido," he muttered.

"What? Where?" I screamed, but realized he was joking when I saw him in a fit of laughter. He hit me over the head again.

"You're so easy to fool!" he laughed. "Come on, let's go see the others." His expression turned blank. "Uh, Link, Mido is..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure Mido is right behind me," I groaned. I was _not_ going to fall for it this time.

"You should turn around..."

"You are so stupid! What makes you think I'll fall for your stupid joke a second time? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"YES! _Now turn around_!"

"I am most certainly not an idiot Mitsuhiro, so I'm just going to ignore you. There is nothing you can do to make me turn around!" I had the feeling he was just going to stick a 'Kick Me' sign on my back.

"What are you two doing here?" I heard a familiar voice say. _It can't be_... I thought. I slowly turned around, my jaw dropping open when I saw a small Mido standing right behind me.

"Uh, are you Mido of the Kokiri?" I asked. Did I really have to ask such a stupid question? Of course it was him!

"Yes, I am the Great Mido," he said boldly. "And I'm asking why you are here! We don't allow trespassers in the forest!"

"Don't you mean _you_ don't allow trespassers in the forest?" I asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, trespasser! Ever since that idiot Link left, things have been terrible around the forest! We can't allow people we don't trust inside!"  
Great. So now he thought I was an idiot.

"You hear that?" Mitsuhiro muttered in my ear so Mido wouldn't hear. "He thinks you're an idiot, as do I." Well, morons think alike, and in this case, they _both_ thought I was stupid. Just my luck.

"Who are you anyways?" Mido asked me.

"Uh, I'm..." I couldn't give my real name without him knowing it was me.

"Oh, it doesn't matter what your name is!" Mido said, interrupting me. Thank the Goddess Farore for Mido's impatience. He stopped to examine me. Crap, he could recognize me, couldn't he? I held my breath, and began to sweat.

"What's up kid?" Mitsuhiro asked him.

"There's something awfully familiar about this guy," Mido muttered. Maybe if I wasn't wearing all the kunai holsters and the goggles he would recognize me. And I remembered that I wasn't wearing my hat either (which, by now, was really starting to bug me.).

Mido continued to look at me, and then he gave me a funny look. "I know you from somewhere... I just can't put my finger on it..."

"Uh, that's great, but my partner and I really have to go," I stammered. I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I began to back up, and then I pulled Mitsuhiro with me as I ran away from Mido, and towards the exit. I could tell that Mido was suspicious of us, but at this point I didn't care. All I wanted to do was run.

When I finally reached the bridge, Uzuki and the rest of the Time Keepers were looking up at the sky, watching the twilight as it disappeared. I hadn't even noticed it disappearing.

"Welcome back you two," Uzuki greeted happily. "I guess you got the spirit resurrected? Good job."

I let go of Mitsuhiro's arm, and approached Shuto with a grin on my face. "Well Shuto, we won the bet, which means we get day offs for the next three days!

He rolled his eyes, and smiled back. "Alright, good job. I didn't think you two would be able to pull it off together, but I guess you won."

"What a surprise," Uzuki muttered. She walked up to Mitsuhiro. "So who took care of the monster?"

"Link did," he replied to her. "I found the spirit, Faron. Other than that, are there any new missions... ones that Link and I can take breaks from?" He laughed under his breath.

Uzuki smiled. "Nope, things seem fine in Hyrule. There's no twilight, and the Society hasn't been doing anything lately either."

"Aw, I wanted to rub my day off in your face."

She poked his forehead. "Nice try. It might work sometime, but not today."

"Oh really? I get to lie down, and sleep all day... no monsters to fight, no puzzles to solve... just a normal day for relaxing and doing all the things I want to do..."

She crossed her arms in frustration. "Stop using my own laziness against me!" she whined. Yashiro grabbed Uzuki, pulling her away from Mitsuhiro.

"We don't have any missions!" Yashiro reminded her. "You can sleep when we get back to the base!" She began to jokingly shake Uzuki. "So stop whining about it!"

"Stop giving me head trauma!" Uzuki laughed back. They both began to laugh, and then Uzuki opened a shadow portal next to them. I stepped inside with Shuto, ignoring the girls as they laughed their heads off. It was unique, the way they could smile and laugh during a dire situation. They always looked on the bright side of things, and they really knew how to cheer people up. In fact, I was sure all of the other Time Keepers were relying on those two to keep the team happy.

When we got back to the base, Kon immediately jumped out from Uzuki's coat pocket and danced around the kitchen.

"Home!" he laughed. "Finally, we're home!" Even if he enjoyed staying with Uzuki, he didn't like being away from the base too long.

Mitsuhiro immediately laid down on the couch. "Wake me when it's necessary," he muttered, and then closed his eyes.

Yashiro and Uzuki sat down at the table. Uzuki laid her head down on the surface.

"Yashiro... I'm tired..." she mumbled.

"You're _always _tired!" Yashiro yelled.

"I know... but I don't want to sleep... I hate naps..."

I handed her one of her sketchpads that were left on the coffee table. "Why don't you draw then?" I asked her.

"Thank you..." she sighed, and took the sketchpad. She lifted her head, and began to draw little doodles on the bottom.

Shuto walked in the room with two cups of coffee. He handed one to Uzuki, and kept the second one for himself. Six sugar cubes were floating in Uzuki's coffee.

"Yikes, that's a lot of sugar," I said.

"It's the only way I can stay awake," Uzuki replied, taking a sip from her coffee. "Yashiro stays awake with just her energy, and I stay awake by sleeping in. But when I don't get the chance to sleep in, I need to rely on coffee."

"Still, that's a lot of sugar. You'll get hyper off it."

"Nah, I never get hyper. Not since I was kid... and a human."

"So you sleep in, and that gives you energy?" That sounded weird.

"Yep, I usually sleep in until ten or eleven, depending on my mood." She finished her coffee, and began to draw some more. I could see the somewhat dark rings under her eyes. It looked like she didn't sleep, but I could tell by her story that she loved sleeping. The dark rings must have just been a part of her Reaper body.

I pulled out my Time Gate, sat at the table next to Uzuki, and began to write. I made sure to add complete detail about my strange mission in the Kokiri forest. Kon watched me write, even as he grew tired and fell asleep.

But I had too many questions in my head, which prevented me from focusing on my writing. What was the Society up to? And why was Kakariko and the Kokiri Forest the only place to be hit by twilight so far?

I wanted to seek out the answers to these questions.

One mission at a time.


	27. Nightmares

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 27: Nightmares**

I closed my Time Gate, and put it on the tab le. If it was a regular diary, it would have been filled to the brim by now. But because of its infinite pages, it looked the same as always, a thin black diary that wouldn't work for regular people. Only me, and Uzuki.

I peeked into the living room. Mitsuhiro was still sleeping, and Shuto was sitting in the armchair across from him, reading a comic book.

"Hey Link, watch this," Yashiro whispered to me. She stood up from the table, a toothpick in her hand. She walked towards the couch where Mitsuhiro was sleeping, and then she gently poked his forehead with the toothpick. He rolled over on his side, his back facing her. She poked his arm with the toothpick, and he waved his hand, shooing her away. Yashiro began to laugh quietly, and poked his arm again. He growled.

"Come on Yashiro, let him sleep," Uzuki said from the table. "He hasn't slept in a few days."

"Just a second," Yashiro hissed, trying not to wake Mitsuhiro up. He rolled over again, and she poked his nose.

"Stop it..." he sighed in his sleep. Yashiro continued to poke him. "No... I hate that..."

"I know you do," Yashiro replied. "That's why I'm doing it."

"Doing... what...?" The guy was totally confused based on the words that were coming out of his mouth. "I don't want to wake up..."

"Rise and shine."

"Yashiro, let him sleep," Uzuki said again.

"Alright, just let me do one thing," Yashiro said. She nudged him in the face with her foot.

"Oh, would you buzz off...? I don't have time... for kickball..." Kickball? Where the hell did that come from? Maybe it was Yashiro tapping her foot against his face.

Uzuki ran up to Yashiro and pulled her away from Mitsuhiro. "Come on, you've had your fun," she growled. "Let him sleep."

"I'm sorry, but I'm so bored!" Yashiro groaned. "There's nothing to do here! And we haven't gotten any missions all day!" She sat down on the other armchair, and pouted. Uzuki opened her mouth to speak, but Yashiro interrupted, saying, "And no, I don't want to play a game of Old Maid!" Uzuki closed her mouth.

"Well, how about we train for a little while?" I suggested. "The Society could attack soon, so we should be ready."

"Nah, I don't want to do anything that involves moving," Shuto sighed, joining in on our conversation. "Not until I find out what happens next. Uzuki, you have the next volume to this comic book, right?"

"Yeah, I've got the whole series in my room," she replied.

"Excellent," Shuto said in an evil sort of voice, and turned back to his book. So those were Uzuki's comics...

"Wait a minute Shuto," Yashiro growled. "What manga are you reading?"

"Uh, nothing!" Shuto said innocently, immediately perking his head up when he responded. "Just an adventure one, that's all-" He was cut off when Yashiro grabbed the comic book and read the cover.

"I knew it! You're reading romance mangas again, aren't you?" She turned to Uzuki. "Uzuki, how could you? Shuto is only about a year older than Link, and you've got him reading _romance_ mangas?"

"What, he asked for one, so I let him read it," she replied calmly. "Besides, it's not that bad. In fact, my younger sister sometimes reads these mangas. She's thirteen years old now."

"You're terrible," Yashiro sighed, and handed the manga back to Shuto. "But I guess you're right."

"You have a sister?" I asked Uzuki.

"Yep. One sister, two older brothers, and one younger brother."

"I have an older half-sister..." Yashiro began. "...two younger sisters, an older brother, and an older step-brother."

"What about you, Shuto?" I asked him.

"You should already know that Jun is my only sibling," he replied, keeping his gaze on the book. "Mitsuhiro is a single child too."

"So, are your siblings alive?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, I guess," Uzuki replied. "I haven't seen them in the Dark Realm, but that doesn't gurantee that they haven't died yet. They may have become angels, or Fallen Angels. Man, now that I think about it, I hope they aren't dead. If they became Reapers, that would be alright, but if they're still alive, then maybe I still have a chance of seeing them... but then again, contact with the humans is against the rules..."

"Well, I'm standing here, aren't I?" I asked.

"Well, that's true, but that's just because the Society is after you. They aren't after my brothers, or my sister, so I have no excuse for harboring humans. In fact, they'll probably execute me for helping you if they catch us."

"Like I said before, they won't catch me."

"Then we have nothing to worry about. What's worrying me though is that we haven't gotten any missions lately."

"Why does it worry you?" Yashiro asked her.

"Because it means they're planning something big. And I don't want to wait around to find out."

There was silence. I could tell that we were all thinking the same thing, that is, except for Mitsuhiro. We were all worried, scared that the Society would get their way.

"We should try and cheer up a little," I said, breaking their thoughts. "Besides, if we're all gloomy, we'll never stand a chance against the Society."

"You're right," Uzuki said quietly. "Hey Yashiro, wanna-"

"Not a game of Old Maid!" Yashiro growled in a direct, clear voice, and held her finger at her.

"No, that's not what I was going to say," Uzuki laughed. "What I was _going _to say was that you should try that experiment of yours."

Yashiro thought for a moment, then smiled. "Oh yeah, _that_ experiment!"

Shuto gave her a nervous look. "Stay away from me," he muttered. "You aren't doing any experiments on me today!"

I backed up from them. "Me neither." I figured that I should just go along with Shuto on this one.

"No, it's not that kind of experiment," Yashiro laughed. "You know how Reapers can open shadow portals? Well, it takes a few seconds to do so, and what if you didn't have that kind of time? So, I'm trying to figure out a way to just teleport in a split second!"

"And it's coming along wonderfully," Uzuki muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, I know it's possible!" Yashiro yelled. She ran towards the door. "I'm going to go try it out now!" She opened the door, and sprinted outside, to the front yard. We all watched her as she quickly opened small shadow portals.

"So how does Yashiro expect to teleport?" I asked Uzuki.

"She told me that she's opening a portal inside of her own body," Shuto explained for her, but kept his eyes on his book. "She begins practicing by opening small portals, and then she focuses opening them inside her body. It's her own theory that if she opens a portal insider her, her body will revert into the portal, and she'll disappear in a split second."

"Sounds cool."

"But there's also a twist," he continued. "If this theory is incorrect, then the portal could end up destroying her."

I shuddered. "But Reapers can only be killed with light..."

"Yes, but there have been other theories of how to kill a Reaper that scientists in the Dark Realm have been studying for centuries." He turned the page in his book, and stopped to read the last page. When he was done, he handed it to Uzuki. "Can you get me the next book please?"

Uzuki snapped to her senses from watching Yashiro practice. "Uh, sure," she replied She grabbed the book, and left for her room. She came back with a box filled with comic books. She set it down next to Shuto's chair. "Here, in case you want to read the third book too."

"Thanks," Shuto muttered, and grabbed a book from the box. He began to read again.

"So, you're just going to let Yashiro learn this skill?" I asked. "Even if it could destroy her?"

"It was Yashiro's choice," Uzuki sighed. "Besides, it's very unlikely that a shadow portal could destroy her. She's only using small ones, just to be safe. Besides, a small one is all she needs."

I watched through the window as Yashiro waved her arms, opening shadow portals I couldn't see. But I could see twilight rising from her feet, and coming from her arms. She really was opening portals inside her body. The next thing I saw was her arms disappearing.

"Hey, check it out!" I said, excited to see Yashiro making progress with her experiment. Uzuki and Shuto rushed to the window to watch her, and we all smiled together when we saw her arms disappear like sand. Then they reformed a few seconds later. We could see Yashiro smiling too.

We watched her for hours, all of us excited to see her making a bit of progress. By this time, she could get her arms to vanish, along with her feet, and all the way up to the bottom half of her body. By the time she came back inside, she was tired and hungry from training so hard.

"Here Yashiro, eat this," Uzuki said, and handed her a bag of chips.

"Thank... you...," Yashiro sighed, her breath almost completely lost. She grabbed the chips, and walked with a slouch all the way to her room. I heard the door slam behind her.

"Watching Yashiro train has made me want to train too," I muttered, and sat down on the armchair next to Shuto's. "Hey Uzuki, do you have any magic books?"

"Magic books?" she asked confused. "Do you mean books that teach you magic spells?"

"Yeah, exactly like that."

"Well, it depends on what magic you're looking for. If you want black magic, Yashiro and I have a fair amount of books on it. But if you're looking for white magic, well, you're going to have to find someone who has those books."  
I gave her a funny look.

"What?" she laughed. "Yashiro and I don't specialize in healing. Just hurting."

"Maybe that explains that scar?" I pointed at the deep scar on the right side of her face.

She felt it with her fingertips. "Oh, this. I've had this scar since I was a baby, pretty much a day after I was born. Apparently, you keep you scars even after turning into a Reaper. Yashiro got hers from a fight in an alleyway. They had pulled a knife on her, dirty bastards. And she still has the scars on her body from when she was shot down and killed."

"Ouch." I could imagine how much that would hurt, but then again, I had never been shot with a gun. What would that be like? I guess I would just have to ask Yashiro. "Anyways, can I borrow those spell books?" I asked Uzuki, wanting to change the subject before the conversation got too graphic.

Uzuki smiled. "Yeah, sure. I'll go get some of mine, and a few of Yashiro's." She left the room, and headed into her room. Then she came into the living room with an armful of heavy old books. She set them down on the coffee table, and left again for Yashiro's room. I heard the door close, and I could hear Yashiro and Uzuki talking to each other. I could hear someone laugh, supposedly Yashiro from the evil tone of the laughter. Uzuki came back into the living room with another armload of heavy books, setting them down on the coffee table next to hers.

"Alright, here you go," Uzuki said with a strain in her voice. "Man, those things are heavy." She blew the dust off them, and wiped the covers of the books. "It hasn't been that long since we've used them last, has it?" she asked herself.

I lifted one, and examined the print on one of the book covers. I carefully read the old lettering, and I finally realized what it said:_ Black Magic for Beginners_. Another one read _The Art of Black Magic. _

Uzuki sat on the couch on top of Mitsuhiro's legs. He shuffled around a bit, but stayed asleep. "Say Link, don't you already know a bit of black magic?" she asked me.

I looked up from the books. "Yeah, Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, and Nayru's Love. I want to know more though."

"You're a smart kid. I think this stuff will be easy for you. You should learn water first though. It's easier to grasp at the beginning. Then you can move onto fire, then wind."

I nodded, and began reading off from the small scribbled words in the book. The text looked like it was written by a half-blind who was writing a journal, but I could make out the text just enough to understand. My eyes would probably get used to it soon. But everything I read made me have to read them two or three times to understand properly. There were sketches of the Soul, or in my case, magic control in the human body, and notes on how to fully control the magic flow. The rest on that page was how to control the element of water, and how to separate it from the elements of wind, fire, and gravity. Gravity sounded interesting, but when I checked the notes on it farther in the book, my mind spun from the gibberish-looking notes that wouldn't make sense to me even if my life depended on it. _Better stick to water,_ I thought.

While I read about water spells, Shuto continued to read his comic books, Mitsuhiro kept sleeping, Uzuki sat on top of him, and Yashiro was probably sleeping in her room.

"Hey Uzuki," I finally said, but kept my eyes on the book. "Can you get me a glass of water?"

She looked up at me, and stood up from the couch, heading to the kitchen. I could hear the water from the tap running, and she came in with a tall glass filled with water. She set it on the coffee table next to me, and then resumed her post on the couch, where she checked all the missions on the small mirror she kept that watched over the human world.

"Watch this," I said, and Uzuki perked her head up to watch what I was going to do. I focused my eyes on the glass of water, and waved my hand gracefully, lifting my fingers up slowly. As I did this, the water in the glass began to rise, all the way out from the glass.

"Hey, you did it!" Uzuki cheered. "Shuto, watch this!" Shuto lifted his head from his comic book, and watched as I controlled a small amount of water from the glass. I moved the small orb of water from the coffee table, and over towards me, catching it in my mouth, and swallowing it.

"Ta-da!" I laughed. Uzuki clapped, and Shuto smiled, and then turned back to his comic book.

"Hey Link, can you do the same thing for me?" he asked. I nodded, and lifted up another orb of water, making it float over towards Shuto. He opened his mouth, but I lost control from laughing so much, and accidentally splashed it in his face. He looked at me with an angry look on his face.

"Sorry...," I said.

Shuto raised his eyebrow, and threw the comic back into the box which, thankfully, had not gotten wet. He stood up from the chair, and walked over to me. He grabbed the collar of my shirt, lifted me from the couch so my feet weren't even touching the floor (something I didn't think he could do), and took the glass, pouring the glass of water down the front of my shirt. Now, normally I wouldn't mind, but sadly, Uzuki had taken the liberty of giving me _ice cold _water, so you can understand what my reaction was. I bit my lip, and felt my stomach turn to ice. It is not fun when you get something cold pressed against your stomach.I felt my entire body cringe from the cold water, and I could feel it soaking into my shirt. I could see Uzuki just laughing at me. She could be really cruel sometimes. She probably got it from Yashiro.

Shuto finally set me back down on the floor, and I held my stomach, trying to ease the icy pain from the water. Shuto could be really cruel too.

"You didn't have to be so mean...," I gasped, trying to warm myself up again. Shuto laughed.

"Sorry, guess I took it a little too far," he laughed, and wiped off the water that I had thrown in his face. "But you deserved it. Pay more attention to your Soul control."

"Sorry," I apologized again, and snickered. I turned to Uzuki, who was watching over the Lon Lon Ranch from the mirror. "Hey, how are things in the Realm of Light?" I asked her curiously.

"Surprisingly, things are fine," she replied. "Malon seems to be healing up nicely, and Ingo and Taron have started fixing up the farm again."

"It's not like the Society to be holding back like that," Shuto replied, scratching his head. "They must be up to something."

I shrugged my shoulders, and grabbed my bag, pulling my extra shirt from inside. Miu crawled out from the bag, and greeted Shuto by rubbing her body against his legs, purring loudly. I took my shirt off, and placed it on the coffee table so I could dry it later. I pulled the extra shirt over my head, putting my arms through the sleeves. This shirt was older, so it had a few rips in the side, but I didn't mind. It was better than being soaking wet, that's for sure.

I looked at Uzuki, who was playing with a string on her fingertips. She weaved it around her fingers, making all sorts of neat designs. Mitsuhiro began to move from underneath her, rolling over onto his side. She remained on his legs, even as he began to toss and turn on the couch.

"Uh, is he alright?" I asked Uzuki.

She looked up from the string, and then at Mitsuhiro. "Darn it, he's having a nightmare again. He'll be fine after a few minutes."

But even after five minutes of waiting, he continued to turn on the couch. I could see sweat forming on his forehead. He also began to mumble low words to himself.

Uzuki set the string on the coffee table, and crawled over Mitsuhiro to check on him. He was moving like crazy now, and he was speaking louder now. Uzuki hushed him, trying to calm him down. She held his arms down, pinning him to the couch.

"Shuto, he's having a nightmare!" she yelled. Shuto immediately reacted, and ran over to help. He held Mitsuhiro's arms down while Uzuki tried to calm him down.

"What's wrong with him?" I screamed frantically.

"Mitsuhiro... wake up!" Uzuki said. Mitsuhiro bolted up, catching Uzuki off guard and pushing her back onto the floor with Shuto. Mitsuhiro screamed, his Time Distorter immediately forming around his right arm. Uzuki quickly jumped up, pushing his arm back, and hushed him. "Mitsuhiro, calm down...," she hushed. "Deep breaths..." He did as she told him, and soon relaxed back against the couch. His Time Distorter disappeared, allowing Uzuki to release his arm. She sighed, and stood up, allowing Mitsuhiro to sit up.

"Are you alright?" Shuto asked him. He nodded, and wiped his forehead from where the beads of sweat were forming. He looked around the room, as if he felt someone was watching him. When his eyes reached me, he only glared. What was his problem all of a sudden?

"Nightmare again...," Mitsuhiro grumbled, turning his gaze away from me and towards the very worried Uzuki.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Uzuki asked.

He shook his head. "No, it was just a nightmare. Nothing to get too worked up over."

"Sure... nothing to get worked up over...," Shuto laughed nervously. I knew he was thinking of how Mitsuhiro nearly attacked them in his sleep from the nightmare. It _was_ something to get worked up over.

"Hey!" I yelled. "You know, if something's bugging you, you should just come out and say it!"

Mitsuhiro glared at me, a strange fire burning in his black eyes. He tilted his neck to the side, causing a cracking sound that I could hear clearly from across the room. He was _asking _for a fight. He curled his hands into fists, which I could now see black markings growing on the skin. He looked like he was ready to just jump up and punch me in the face. But even after leaping off the couch towards me, Uzuki ran up to me and pushed me into the wall, causing herself to be in the midst of the coming battle. I hit the wall hard, my head flying up and hitting the wall, which I was guessing caused it to crumble a little. I fell from the wall, landing on the floor, unsure whether I could even stand up anymore.

"Mitsuhiro!" I heard Shuto scream. I looked up to see Shuto and Uzuki holding him back, his Time Distorter equipped again.

"Let me kill this goddess-damned bastard!" Mitsuhiro screamed. I could see the color of his irises in his eyes change to a deep red, and his Time Distorter changed to a dark black, with silver markings stretching up the side.

"Shuto!" Uzuki growled, trying to hold the uncontrollable Reaper back. Mitsuhiro pushed her away, but she landed on her feet and hands, like a cat. Her eyes had changed to a red too. What in the world was going on?

"Uzuki, don't!" Shuto growled back at her, but he couldn't get another word in edgewise before she crawled up the wall like a spider, her hands somehow sticking to the surface of the wall. By now, I thought I had just gotten a concussion and was going nuts, or was hallucinating. I was kind of hoping for that, but it was all too real.

I heard a door swing open, and I saw Yashiro run into the room, her mouth agape. She gave a funny look at Uzuki, who was still clinging to the wall, and then she gave an angry look at Mitsuhiro, who was still trying to kill me, by the way. She looked at Shuto, who was really struggling to hold Mitsuhiro away from me. She sighed, and lifted Mitsuhiro by the collar of his shirt. She lifted Shuto the same way. I saw a bag of chips stuffed into her jacket pocket.

"Alright Shuto," Yashiro began. "What happened here?" He stopped clawing at her hands that were tightening on the collar of his shirt.

"Mitsuhiro had a bit of a nightmare," he explained. "And he was trying to kill Link!"

"Hey, I had a perfectly good reason for it too!" Mitsuhiro argued. "What in goddesses' name do you think happened in my nightmare?"

Uzuki immediately snapped out of attack-mode, and crawled down from the wall. She pinned Mitsuhiro to the wall, glaring into his eyes.

"Your dream... you dreamed of a battle between you and Link, didn't you?" she asked, interrogating him with her cold stare. Mitsuhiro just glared back at her. "And let me guess... you lost, right?" He had no choice but to nod. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, or hearing. Me, the 'freshmeat' of the Time Keepers, stronger than the leader himself? That couldn't be possible... but then again, it was just a dream...

Right?


	28. The Fairy and the Reaper

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 28: The Fairy and the Reaper**

I stood up from the floor, and approached Mitsuhiro. I wasn't afraid of him attacking me; Uzuki would take care of that if he tried. I could see his eyes burning a deep red, like flames. Even the markings on his arms were glowing with a strange fiery essence. I could clearly tell by the fangs growing in the corners of his mouth that he wanted to tear me apart, but Uzuki kept him pinned to the wall, preventing him from attacking. I could also see fangs growing in her mouth too. I looked at Yashiro and Shuto, who were also growing fangs in corners of their mouths.

They _all_ had the same ability I did.

There were black markings growing over the left side of Uzuki's face. The markings were also on Shuto's forehead, and on Yashiro's right arm.

Mitsuhiro began to struggle underneath Uzuki's grip, but Yashiro immediately ran up to him, pushing him into the wall with one finger. Shuto grabbed me, pulling me away from Mitsuhiro. Then he pinned _me _to the wall. I began to fight with him, trying to escape his iron grip. For a person who looked frail and weak, while he was like this, he was strong. But what had overcome the Reapers? They didn't look anything like the monster I had transformed into on the night of the ranch fire.

"Link," Shuto growled. "I need you to stay away from Mitsuhiro." He had the same look in his eyes. "It's not safe."

"What's happened to him?" I asked, afraid of what I was seeing.

"Uzuki, Yashiro, get Mitsuhiro out of here," Shuto ordered, ignoring my question.

"Yeah, like that's going to be easy!" Yashiro yelled. She was actually struggling to hold Mitsuhiro down against the wall. "Uzuki, can you do something to control him?"

I watched as Uzuki gripped the section of Mitsuhiro's neck that connected to his shoulder. He immediately cringed, and he stopped flailing his arms around. She squeezed his neck harder, sending him to the floor.

"You better calm down, Mitsuhiro," Uzuki grumbled. "I could end up cutting the blood flow to your brain." She pinched his neck even harder, causing Mitsuhiro to try and fight, but he could barely move under her grip.

The black markings began to disappear from Mitsuhiro's arm, and his Time Distorter disappeared too. His eyes slowly began to change back to the color black, and the fangs that had grown in his mouth started to change back to normal. Whatever it was Uzuki was doing, it was stopping Mitsuhiro from turning into a complete monster.

Shuto eventually set me down from the wall, and he walked up next to Uzuki. The rest of the Reapers changed back to their normal forms.

Mitsuhiro stood up, still glaring at me. He walked to the left so that he was against the huge window. I walked around so that I was across from him, just at the door that lead to the living room.

"You... you promised me!" Uzuki cried at him. "I can't believe you!" I really had no idea what was going on.

"Listen, I don't give a damn about Dex, the Deity, or the brat!" Mitsuhiro yelled at her. He pointed at me. "I just want this idiot dead!"

I could hear a pinging sound in my brain. What was it? It wasn't the type of revengeful feeling I got when I awakened as Dex... it was something else...

"Why do you hate him so much!" Yashiro yelled at Mitsuhiro. "Is it because you have to deal with the fact that he's stronger than all of us?" Now I really couldn't believe what was happening. I was just a kid... a fairy in training under the teachings of the all-powerful Reapers.

I unexpectedly fell to my hands and knees, feeling sick to my stomach. Something was definitely wrong with me...

"Link, are you alright?" Shuto asked me worriedly, and tried to help me up. But I glared at him with anger in my eyes, and he backed away. "Link?"

I glared up at Mitsuhiro, my hands closing into fists. My heart was pounding fast now, and I was ready to just lunge at Mitsuhiro and tear him to bits. But it wasn't for revenge... I actually didn't know what I was feeling.

"Pathetic," I heard Mitsuhiro grumble from across the room. That was all it took to make me snap. I jumped up, running towards him, and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying through the huge window in the living room and through the dirt outside, leaving a trail of upturned earth. I didn't even know I had that kind of strength.

I looked at my hands, and at the Triforce that was now glowing a bright gold. I definitely wasn't Dex. My heart wasn't filled with revenge this time. I wanted to show Mitsuhiro how strong I _really_ was.

Before Uzuki or the others could stop me, I ran through the shattered window, sprinting towards the Reaper that was trapped in the ground on his back. I leaped at him, my first ready, but before I could strike him, he grabbed the dirt above him, pulling himself up so that he flipped backwards onto his feet. As I struck the air from where he was, he punched me hard in the face, throwing me to the ground. I fell along the grass, but eventually managed to turn myself around so I could land on my feet.

Mitsuhiro drew his katana sword, and held it in both his hands. I took out my sword as well, and flinched when I saw the sword that the Deity always used. I looked at the twisted blue blade, seeing my reflection in its shining metal. My hair had white streaks going through the bangs, and I could see strange red and blue markings on my forehead. I looked at Mitsuhiro, who was changing back into his demonic form of pure darkness.

"Mitsuhiro!" I heard Uzuki scream. "Both of you, stop it!" She began to run out through the window, but was stopped by a strange twilight barrier. I glared at Mitsuhiro, who was looking at Uzuki as she struggled to get past the wall.

"This battle...," Mitsuhiro hissed. "This ends here." He smirked at me, and released his left hand from the handle of his sword. He held the sword forward towards me with his right hand, taunting me. I readied my sword, prepared to fight no matter what.

I charged at him with my blade, and he remained still, waiting for me to approach. I swung my sword at him, but he bent back, dodging the blade. He smiled up at me, and regained his straight posture. I growled, and began swinging again, but he dodged all my moves, his body moving quickly around my sword. Whatever attacks that I thought would hit were just blocked by his katana.

"Mitsuhiro, Link, stop it!" Uzuki screamed from behind us. We both ignored her pleas, and continued to fight. I was getting pissed off at how he wasn't even bothering to attack. He just dodged my attacks, and continued to taunt me with his smirks.

I attacked again, and actually managed to hit him. The blade tore through his shirt, cutting through the skin on his chest. I could see blood running down his chest, and soaking through his black shirt. He fell back a bit, clutching the deep wound I had given him. But the wound was strangely healing quickly, and it only took a few seconds until he stood up again and held his sword at me, ready to fight again.

"You... I should have killed you while I had the chance...," Mitsuhiro hissed. He backed up from me, the black markings glowing on his arms, and on the side of his face. He swung his blade through the air, and it began to glow with the same darkness that was emanating from the markings. His Reaper wings grew out from his back, and the fangs grew back in the corners of his mouth.

I held my sword forward as well, and I could feel my Triforce warming up even more. I knew I had changed into the appearance of the Fierce Deity, with his powers in my control. I also knew that his powers wouldn't be as unstable as Dex's were when I transformed into him.

This battle between us was going to end now.

**A Short Interlude**

"Oh, where's Freshmeat?" Ixion whined. By saying 'Freshmeat' she was automatically referring to Dex.

"Beats me," Xixion replied. "Haven't seen the newbie since he burned that ranch to the ground. Guess he didn't have the guts to-" She was cut off when a knife pressed against her neck. She looked up to see Dex standing behind her, his face angled so that his eyes were looking down at her. "Oops, guess I spoke too soon, huh?" Xixion snickered.

"Bingo," he laughed.

"You sound just like Link when you talk, you know that?"

"Yep. And I hate it like hell."

"Well, here's some more bad news for you then," Luxerus said from the other end of the table. "The Deity has been awakened by the boy."

Dex gripped the knife harder from hearing his enemy's name.

"Uh, Dex...," Xixion said nervously, afraid that the knife would soon cut into her own neck.

Dex realized he was nearly cutting her skin, and released his grip on the handle. "Oh, sorry," he apologized, and put the knife away in the holster that was strapped on his belt around his waist. He glared at Luxerus, losing his apologetic expression. "He did _what _?" Dex yelled at him.

Luxerus shrugged his shoulders, and pushed the portable Mirror of Twilight across the table, so that it slid in front of Dex. A clear image of Link and Mitsuhiro fighting appeared on the floating screen. He pounded the table with his fist in anger.

"Dammit!" Dex screamed. "Doesn't that stupid kid know who he's fighting against? He's gonna get killed!"

"Actually, that statement should be the other way around," Xixion interrupted. Dex looked at her funny. She raised her eyebrow. "What? Didn't you know? Link is supposedly the strongest in their little group!"

Dex couldn't believe his ears. How could that little shrimp, the tiny kid who was from the Realm of Light, be a match for the Reapers, the machines built to destroy humans? It didn't make any difference if he was the Hero of Time, he still didn't have those abilities as a kid...

"Why don't the other Reapers stop them?" Dex asked frantically.

"They want to, but they can't," Ixion sighed. "Mitsuhiro has created a twilight wall. They can't get any closer to those two."

"Dammit!" Dex screamed, and hit his fist against the table again. Luxerus was sure that if he did that again, the table would break into two.

"Would you calm down?" Luxerus growled. "They won't kill each other. The Deity wouldn't allow it."

"Oh yeah?" Dex snickered, but then changed his voice to an angry growl. "Then where is he?" He pointed at the image of Mitsuhiro stabbing his katana into Link's arm. "They're going to kill each other!" He could tell by looking at Link that the kid was in a lot of physical, if not mental, pain.

"If you want to stop them, go ahead," Luxerus muttered. "But you chose the path of the Society. Link is an enemy of the Society, and I can tell you hate that child as much as we do."

Dex swallowed. Why did Luxerus always have to be so smart? He sat down, sighing in defeat.

He would just have to wait and see what happened.

**Chapter 28 (continued)**

"Minamimoto, you bastard!" I screamed, holding the wound on my left shoulder with my right hand. My sword was on the ground. I couldn't fight like this. Uzuki and the others were still trying to find a way through the twilight barrier, but they would probably end up giving up soon.

I fell to the ground on my hands and knees, my brain ringing from the pain. I had lost a lot of blood, which was probably half the reason why my brain was ringing. I wouldn't last much longer if I didn't get the wound treated soon.

Mitsuhiro placed the tip of his katana into my neck, but not hard enough to make me bleed. "You know, killing children is going to leave me nightmares for the rest of my life," he snickered. "But then again, that's when I don't _want_ to kill a child. You, on the other hand..."

"Please...," I whimpered. "If you have to kill me... just answer my question..."

"Shoot."

"Why?"

He seemed taken aback by my question. "What do you mean, why? Do you know how much I hate you?"

"I'm fully aware... but... I hate my friend Mido for plenty of reasons, and... we sometimes get along..."

Mitsuhiro flicked the tip of the blade against my neck, revealing blood. "You're really pathetic, you know that?"

"But... you never answered my question...," I continued. "Uzuki and Yashiro... don't always get along, but... they're really good friends... so why can't we get along?"

"Plenty of reasons," Mitsuhiro muttered. "One, you're a fairy, from the Realm of Light. I erase your kind for my own existence. Two, I never thought of you as a friend. Not even a partner. You're trash." He kicked me, sending me back onto my back. It began to rain, the drops of water hitting my face. "And three... because I hate how you're always stronger than me."

"Who's the one winning the battle then...?" I asked jokingly.

"Because I'm eighteen. You're only a little thirteen year old." He leaned on his katana next to me. "Your fighting skills are still dull. You need to sharpen them a bit more. But I'm pretty sure that if you had the Master Sword, you would have cut my head off by now."

"How do you know... that I'm stronger than you? If you ask me... I'm the weakest in the group."

"You have a sort of potential. And besides, your awakened form is about tens of thousands of times stronger than ours. Mine is stronger than any other Reapers, but... it's not as strong as you. You have two wild cards: Dex, and the Deity." I was surprised by his sudden turn to kindness. Uzuki and the others had stopped screaming too, probably waiting to see what happened next.

"You can... kill me now, you know...," I whimpered. My hair began to stick to my forehead from where the rain was hitting.

Mitsuhiro pulled something from his pocket, and dropped it on my chest. I grabbed it, pulling it up to my gaze. It was my Time Keepers headband. The metal became wet from the rain, but I could still clearly see the engraved image of the Triforce. I let my arm that was holding the headband fall

to the ground.

"Now, you can stay out here and let the rain give you the worst cold ever," Mitsuhiro began. "Or, you can stand up, put that headband on, and act like a _real_ member of the Time Keepers. Member number five. We have the numbering based on the time you joined. If you want to move up higher... you have to be able to defeat all of us. Including me."

I smiled. Mitsuhiro... I was going to teach him a lesson in how to fight someday.

"Now, get up," he urged. "Uzuki's probably having a heart attack worrying over you so much. Don't scare her again, okay?"

"I should be saying the same thing to you... I thought her heart was going to burst when she saw you attack me..."

"Yeah, the girl worries too much."

"Can I ask you... one more question? You said you hated me so much, that you wanted to kill me... so why didn't you?"

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for Uzuki and the others. Do you know how important you are to them? They think of you as family. In fact, we're all family here. I'm the one that looks after all of us, and you're one of the reasons we're fighting in the first place. So that you don't get your pathetic world covered in darkness. Reapers and fairies never got along, alright?"

"Then I guess this makes history...," I sighed.

Mitsuhiro laughed, and walked up the hill towards the house, leaving me to lie on the ground. Thank the Goddess Nayru I had changed back to normal.

"Well?" Mitsuhiro yelled back at me. "You coming or what?"

I wearily stood up, clutching my headband. I lowered my gaze to my feet. "I will defeat you someday...," I muttered, hardly loud enough for Mitsuhiro to hear.

"What?" he asked, not able to hear my words.

I clutched my headband even tighter, and glared at him. "Just you wait, Mitsuhiro Minamimoto! I'll get stronger, and then someday, I'll defeat you!" I tied the headband around my head so that it was resting on the rim of my hat. "As long as I wear this headband... I swear on my life that I'll become stronger than you!"

He smiled, and looked back at Uzuki, who had pretty much snapped by now. He looked back at me.

"Good luck, Fairy Boy."

"Ow!" I yelled for the fifth time that evening. "Uzuki, watch it!"

"I cannot believe what I just saw!" she scolded again, and tightened the bandages around my left shoulder, sending another wave of pain through me. Mitsuhiro was sitting in the corner, almost like he was scolding himself.

"Would you loosen the grip a little?" I yelled at her. She continued to strap the bandages down on my shoulder, which would probably loose blood circulation if she didn't loosen them a little. When she finally finished, I put my tunic shirt back on, and sat down on the couch next to Shuto.

"As you can see, Uzuki has snapped," Shuto whispered to me, and chuckled under his breath.

"I heard that!" Uzuki screamed, and threw a kunai at him, nailing his shirt collar and pinning him to the couch. That kunai was _way _too close from hitting his neck. _Better keep my mouth shut_, I thought.

"Uzuki-chan, calm down," Yashiro muttered.

I had the feeling Uzuki wanted to throw a kunai at her too, but considering it was Yashiro, that probably wasn't the best idea. Yashiro raised her eyebrow at her, as if saying, 'Throw a kunai at me, and you die.'. Uzuki turned away from Yashiro, and towards Mitsuhiro. He immediately frowned, knowing his punishment was next.

"As for you, how could you try and kill Link like that?" she cried. He stood up from the floor, and looked at her with a sorry look in his eyes.

"Listen Uzuki...," he began. "You know the fairies bug me. We're natural enemies. And Link annoys the crap out of me on a whole new level."

Uzuki scowled at him, and put her hands on her hips. "Listen Mitsuhiro, we're the Time Keepers, right?"

"Right," he replied, amused by her question.

"Our goal is to keep the Society from taking over Link's world. We're a team, and we all have strengths and weaknesses. For example, I'm terrified of bullets from a gun, but Yashiro is pretty much bulletproof. So, she watches out for me. But she always charges into a mission head-on without thinking, so then I have to save her sorry ass before she gets killed. That's how I watch out for her."

"I'm really not getting you," Mitsuhiro said sarcastically.

"I'll give you another example then. Look at Miu and Kon. Kon can transform into a real person, so he can fight, which is why he looks after Miu. But Kon is slow when he's stuck in plush doll form, so to help out, Miu lets Kon ride on her back. They look out for each other like teammates."

Crap. I knew where this conversation was going.

"So, while I watch out for Yashiro, and Yashiro watches after me, I want you and Link to do the same thing. He helps you with your weaknesses, and you help him with his."

Mitsuhiro bit his lip. "What about Shuto? Who does he get?"

"Shuto relies on Yashiro to save his ass whenever possible, and he relies on me to make up a good plan. And he's relying on you to be a good leader."

"Uh, I can make my own decisions...," Shuto cut in, laughing.

"You know what I mean," Uzuki muttered, turning to look at him, and then turning back towards Mitsuhiro to speak again. "Anyways Mitsuhiro, I know what your weakness is. You sometimes like to show off, and you only focus on the big monsters, not the little ones that could sneak up on you and chew your back. Turns out Link-kun here is very fast, and really good at fighting the little monsters that could start chewing on you. However, he can't handle the bigger ones as good with the skills he has now, so you have to beat the big ones for him. Also, Link could probably fit into small places, which could prove useful to us on a mission someday. You're too big, but you can fly, giving you an aerial view. You see? You two could look out for each other like real partners on a team."

Mitsuhiro rolled his eyes. "Alright, enough with the sappy talk. I'm not working with him, even if you paid me. Seriously, you can't bribe me this time. Anyways, I work alone." He walked away from her, and left for his room. Well, that was the end of that.

"Man, he just doesn't like people anymore...," Uzuki sighed to herself. "I should go talk to him..." She left the living room too, leaving me alone with Shuto and Yashiro.

"That was a pretty freakin' sweet brawl, Link," Yashiro said, trying to make me feel better. "At least, when Uzuki wasn't screaming her head off for you two to stop..."

"No, I don't want to fight him again," I muttered. "Not until I'm stronger... I'll defeat Mitsuhiro, and Dex someday... when I'm stronger."

Shuto smiled at me. "That's your mission, isn't it, Link?"

"Yeah. I guess it is."


	29. Birthday

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 29: Birthday**

Days pass. And eventually, they turn into months. I was still here with the Time Keepers, waiting for the Society to make their next move. We became stronger, we became a true team, and we waited, waited for anything. Sometimes we wondered if the Society was even trying anymore. I've been traveling to Hyrule once or twice, but I still didn't see the Reapers jumping out to kill me. I actually _missed_ the Society trying to stab a sword into my throat.

I sat in front of my bedroom window, the leaves changing to a bright green, awaiting the summer. I began to think of all the things I could have been doing now: working with Byrne at his shop, playing with the Bomber kids, visiting Zelda to say a hello. Dammit, I couldn't even think of going near Zelda, but I missed her so much. Everyday, I would think of her sitting in her room, in front of her window, waiting to see me walk up the stone path leading to the castle. It also made me sometimes wonder if she still remembered me, or if she hadn't already been caught by the Society... but thoughts like these always made me want to huddle up in the corner of my room and cry. I never did though. I just got rid of the terrible thoughts, and stared out the window in the mornings, each and every day, watching as nature changed with the months.

It was May now.

I stood up from my chair, and looked at the calendar on my wall. My fourteenth birthday was today. Whoopie. I usually loved my birthdays, but without Byrne to celebrate it with... it just wasn't the same. But then again, I did have Uzuki, Yashiro, Shuto, and Mitsuhiro. But when you're pretty much stuck in the Realm of Darkness with creatures that would eat your soul if they had the chance... I didn't feel very safe at that thought. But I knew I could trust them. They were my friends. Even Mitsuhiro and I were getting along better than we did a few months ago.

I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in," I muttered. Uzuki walked into my room. I shoved my hands into my pockets, and smiled at her.

"Hey Link," she said. "I haven't seen you all day. How's it going?"

"Fine, I guess. I'm tired though. And bored."

"Sorry that there isn't much to do here. But me, Yashiro and the guys were thinking of practicing on our instruments. You don't mind the music, do you?"

I shook my head. I loved listening to their music, and sometimes I joined in too on my Ocarina of Time. Mitsuhiro was a genius on the electric guitar, Shuto and Uzuki could play the flute (I hadn't known until a few weeks ago that Uzuki had her own flute and was really good too), and Yashiro had a talent for the piano, which explained the huge sleek black piano that was in the living room.

"Alright then," Uzuki sighed. "You know, if you're bored, why don't you train in the backyard? If you want to defeat Mitsuhiro, you have to get stronger, and the only way to do that is to train."

"Maybe later." I sat down on my bed, and stared up at the ceiling. Uzuki sat next to me on the bed.

"You know, you've changed a lot since we first met you," Uzuki muttered.

"Well, that was out of nowhere," I snickered. "I haven't changed that much..."

"Sure you have. You don't have as much energy as you used to."

"I still have energy... I just don't have anything to put it into."

"Alright then, let's find something for you to do." Uzuki stood up from the bed, and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. She pulled me out of the room, and into the living room. It was dark, and I didn't see the others sitting around the coffee table.

"Uh, Uzuki?" I said nervously. "What's going on?"

She released my hand, and walked ahead of me. I heard a low shuffling of feet, and suddenly, the lights burst on, revealing the Reapers sitting around the coffee table, with a cake in the middle. The cake had my name written on it, followed by the number fourteen.

"Happy birthday!" Uzuki cheered from her spot near the light switch.

"What the?" I stammered. "You guys did all this for me?"

"Of course!" Shuto replied. "It _is_ your birthday after all!"

I smiled. "You guys are awesome!" I laughed. I sat next to Shuto on the couch, and looked at the round chocolate cake. It looked exactly like the cake Byrne and I always bought after work.

"Go on, blow out the candles!" Yashiro cheered. I looked at the fourteen candles that were arranged to look like the Triforce. I took a deep breath, and blew them all out in one blow. Everyone clapped and cheered. Mitsuhiro left the living room to get the plates, forks, and a knife. When he came back, he sat next to Uzuki, and cut the cake in half.

Kon jumped up onto my lap, and hugged my neck. "It's both our birthdays, big brother!" he laughed. He had this way of calling me 'big brother' all the time, even if we were technically the same person. Miu jumped up next to Kon, and rubbed her body against my chest. She had gotten older, and bigger too, but she was still in the first stage of her transformation.

Mitsuhiro tossed a rectangular-shaped black box onto my lap. "Here," he muttered. "From me and Uzuki." I lifted the lid off the box, and pulled out what looked like Mitsuhiro's skateboard.

"I made you a skateboard," Uzuki giggled. "And there's a ramp built in the backyard."

"Awesome!" I said happily. I was looking forward to using my new skateboard with Mitsuhiro. I looked at the bottom; there was a graffiti-style image between the wheels. It was a white skull, the one that Uzuki drew in the corners of her really good drawings that she kept hanging on her wall. It was one of those goofy skulls that you would sometimes see in cartoon shows, like the shows Uzuki, Yashiro and Mitsuhiro would watch on Saturday nights.

Shuto handed me a small cylinder container, with red gift wrap around it. "Here you go, Link! From me and Yashiro!"

"Thanks guys!" I said, and opened the lid, curious to see what was inside. Suddenly, several plastic green frogs jumped out, hopping all over the room. I laughed at their joke.

"Hopping frogs!" Yashiro laughed. The toys jumped all around the room, and I scrambled to catch them. Miu ran around the room, pawing at the plastic frogs with a look of amusement in her eyes.

When I finally caught all eight of them, I sat down and put them back into cylinder box they came in. I couldn't stop laughing as I did this.

"Wow, thanks guys!" I laughed. It really made my day, and I was already starting to think up pranks I could pull on Yashiro with these.

I looked around at the Reapers that were sitting around the table, enjoying their cake. These people were my friends, and there was nothing that could break it. I cared about each one of them... Uzuki, Yashiro, Shuto, Mitsuhiro, Miu, Kon... all of them were my friends for life.

"Link, are you crying?" Uzuki asked me. I blinked, breaking my thoughts, and realized that a tear had run down my cheek. I wiped it away, and shook my head.

"No, I'm not crying," I replied in a tough voice.  
She smiled, and continued to eat her cake. I grabbed a piece, and began to eat the thick, delectable chocolate cake. It tasted so good... I hadn't eaten anything like this since the carnival.

We all sat there, talking about our adventures, and telling funny jokes. I was sure Uzuki would end up choking on her own laughter... she had such a funny laugh, and when she usually started laughing, it would take forever to get her to start. And then Yashiro would try and snap her out of it, but Uzuki would just get the same joke in her head again, and would laugh even _harder_. And then once Yashiro got Uzuki back under control, Mitsuhiro would tell another joke to make Uzuki break into laughter again. For a seventeen year old (she turned seventeen in March) she didn't have much self control over her own laughter.

"Not helping," I said to Mitsuhiro, but he simply burst into laughter with Uzuki. Shuto just rolled his eyes, and continued eating his cake. He wasn't the kind of person to laugh that much over a joke. Of course, he was still laughing, just not uncontrollably.

"Uzuki, it's just a joke, calm down!" Shuto laughed.

Uzuki laughed one more time, and began to take deep breaths. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Geez, I didn't think you'd laugh so much over a stupid joke like that," Yashiro muttered.

"It's so funny!" Uzuki giggled.

"Alright Uzuki, sit down," Mitsuhiro mumbled, and pushed her back on the armchair. He hadn't changed much over the last few months, considering he was eighteen now (his birthday was also in March).

"Augh, I'm full!" Mitsuhiro groaned, and sat on the second armchair, laying his head back. "I can't move..."

"Come on, you're supposed to come skateboarding with me!" I laughed, and tried to lift him from the chair by pulling on his arm. He groaned, and remained on the chair. For a person who was skinny, he was way heavier than I thought he would be. Even if I had gained a few muscles over the months from training, he was still too heavy.

"Let me go," Mitsuhiro grumbled. I released his arm.

"Just wait until I'm stronger," I muttered. "Then I'll kick your ass!"

He flicked me in the forehead, and closed his eyes. "That'll be the day," he chuckled.

I groaned, and looked at Uzuki, who was eating another piece of cake.

"Hey Uzuki, do you think I'll beat Mitsuhiro someday?" I asked her.

"You'll have to beat Shuto, me and Yashiro before that day comes," she said.

"No problem, easy!" I laughed. Actually, I was just kidding myself. How could I defeat Uzuki and Yashiro, let alone Mitsuhiro? When those two worked together, they were like an unstoppable force... and Yashiro alone had fists like a truck.

"You liar," Uzuki giggled. Crap, I had forgotten about her aura reading skills. I still didn't know how she did it, but I would be sure to ask her later.

I sat back on the couch with Shuto, and stared out the large window that had a beautiful view of the sunset. I remembered the battle between us... me and Mitsuhiro. Uzuki had gone and fixed the window after our battle was over, and she wouldn't stop scolding us for days afterword. Mitsuhiro finally managed to calm her down, but she was still pretty mad at us. Now, if we didn't get along in front of her, she would get really pissed off at us. So, Mitsuhiro and I had no choice but to act as 'friends', even if we did hate each others guts.

Miu rested on my legs as I lay down on the couch, Shuto already leaving for the kitchen. Her dragon wings wrapped around her small body as she fell asleep, her long tail curling around her wings. I could hear her purring loudly, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

"Uzuki, could you do me a favor?" I asked her. "Can you get my Time Gate?" I couldn't get up with Miu sleeping on my legs.

Uzuki set her plate on the coffee table, and stood up from her chair. She left the living room for a moment, and came back with my Time Gate and the ink pen in her hands. She handed them to me, and resumed her spot on the armchair.

I opened my Time Gate, flipped past all the old entries, and began to write on a new page.

_May 7th, _

_It's my fourteenth birthday today. Now I'm the same age as Shuto, at least until his birthday comes up in the winter. Yashiro's birthday is coming up too, in about a week or so. I was greeted today by a surprise party the Reapers had put together for me. Uzuki and Mitsuhiro got me a new skateboard, and Yashiro and Shuto got me these plastic toys called hopping frogs, which I really got a kick out of. We also had chocolate cake, which was delicious, and a lot like the cake Byrne and I used to eat when I stayed with him in Clock Town. _

_Speaking of Clock Town, I wonder how things are going in the Realm of Light? I haven't seen Epona in a while; she's probably worried about me. I'll also have to pay a visit to Byrne sometime, to let him know I'm okay. _

_I've been getting bored though... if only the Society would do something! I don't like it when I can't kick Iwata, Jun, or Mikumo's asses every once in a while..._

I closed my Time Gate, and set it on the coffee table, next to the cake. I laid my head on the arm of the couch, and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep...

"...up! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes to see Shuto looking down at me, his expression wild and excited.

"S-Shuto?' I asked drowsily, still tired from my nap. "How long was I sleeping?"

"A couple hours. Come on, get up."

"Uh, why do I have to get up?" I muttered, and closed my eyes again.

Shuto grabbed my leg, and pulled me off the couch. "Come on, sleepyhead! Or do you want to miss kicking the crap outta the Society?"

I opened my eyes in a flash, and jumped up from the floor. "Did you just say... the Society? They're back?" I ran into the dining room, where the rest of the group was sitting at the table, their portable Mirror of Twilight placed in the middle. The screen was hovering above the ring, and an image of the swamps in Termina appeared. A man was bending over the lake; I could tell by the black robe that he was definitely a member of the Society. His hood was down, revealing long silver hair that went down to his shoulders. The view was from the side, so I could only see the right side of his face. He was wearing round glasses, and his eyes were thin and sharp. He was dipping his hands into the lake.

"Yeah, he's definitely from the Society, but what's he doing?" I asked.

"He's just standing there," Yashiro muttered. "I don't know who he is either."

Neither did I. It couldn't have been Jun... maybe it was Iwata?

"Maybe it's Iwata," I suggested.

Mitsuhiro shook his head. "No, it's not. I've seen Iwata. His hair is shorter, and he doesn't wear glasses. This guy is someone else."

It couldn't be Mikumo; he didn't have that mechanical arm attached to his right shoulder. I really had no idea who it was at this point.

"Oh well, might as well go check it out," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "Who's going on this mission? I'm definitely going... this guy might cause trouble."

"Count me in," I sighed. "I want to kick some Society ass."

"Guess I'll come along too," Shuto offered. "I've got nothing better to do." He grabbed his gloves, and put them on his hands. They had metal plates on the front in case he had to defend himself. He tightened the Time Keepers belt around his waist, and left for the door, Miu following behind him. Mitsuhiro and I left soon after, leaving behind Uzuki, Yashiro, and Kon.

We all walked down the steps, and grouped on the grass in a circle to think up a plan. When Uzuki wasn't the one to make the plan, it was Mitsuhiro.

"Alright, here's how I see it," Mitsuhiro began. "We've obviously never fought this guy before, so we have to be careful. We don't know his attack skills, his weapons, or even the way he fights, so it's going to have to be an ambush." Mitsuhiro frowned. He knew that none of us specialized in ambushes. Shuto had previously told me that only assassins did that. And where in goddesses' name would we meet an assassin? I began to think of that girl from Kakariko... when I was playing at the shooting gallery... that girl that got really annoyed and demanded to play it on hard... and then nearly shot my head off with an arrow.

"Earth to Link!" Shuto muttered, and snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Ugh, you're turning into a clone of Uzuki!"

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter right now," Mitsuhiro interrupted, looking at the grass. "Anyways, we have to think of a plan... how can we ambush him?"  
I began to think, and then one of those out-of-nowhere ideas hit me. I turned to Shuto. "Hey Shuto, do you mind if I use my new hopping frogs in this mission?"

He gave me a funny look, and then nodded. "Go ahead. But what in goddesses' name do you want them for?"

"You'll see!" I stood up, and ran back into the house. Uzuki and Yashiro were drawing at the table.

"Link?" Uzuki said. "You guys haven't left for the mission yet?"

I grabbed my bag, and put the container that held the frogs inside my bag. Uzuki watched me as I did this.

"Link?" she asked again.

"What's up?" Yashiro asked, joining in on Uzuki's question.

"We're just making a plan," I replied, and went back inside, closing the door behind me. I jumped off the steps, sitting back down with the two other boys.

"Alright, I got the frogs," I said. Mitsuhiro and Shuto were probably wondering why I'd need it, but they would just have to wait and see.

"Then on with the plan," Mitsuhiro continued. "Link, I'm guessing you want to use the frogs as a distraction, right?"

"Wow, good guess," I laughed.

"Then you do that. While the man is distracted, hide up in the trees. Shuto, you attack him from behind, and then I'll pin him down."

"I guess that's all we have for plans at this point, huh?" Shuto asked. He was probably uncomfortable that he was the one that had to attack the strange man. "Alright, if we don't have any other choice..." He stood up from the grass, and stretched his arms out.

The door to the house burst open, and Uzuki glared at us.

"Hey! You guys are supposed to be at the swamp in Termina!" she yelled. "Come on, you can't wait all day! The man from the Society is going to get away!"

"We're making a plan!" Mitsuhiro yelled back at her. "We'll leave in a second!"

"Hurry it up!" She left, closing the door behind her.

"Alright, let's get going," Mitsuhiro muttered, and opened a shadow portal against the wall of the house. He stepped through, and I followed behind Shuto and Miu.

We soon arrived on the road that led to the swamps in Termina. To the left was the shooting gallery, and straight ahead was the swamp. I walked ahead, knowing that I was the only one that knew these paths.

"Ooh! Mr. Fairy!" I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up at the sky to see none other than Tingle, hanging from his big red balloon.

"Hey, you recognized me!" I said cheerfully.

"Of course I recognized you!" he chuckled in his high giddy voice. "You're a fairy! Long time no see!"  
"Hey Link," Mitsuhiro mumbled just loud enough so I could hear. "Who's this weirdo?"  
"Oh, he's an aspiring fairy, and an old friend of mine," I explained.

"How can you be an aspiring fairy?"

"I really don't know..."

"Mr. Fairy! Do you want any maps?" Tingle asked me.

"What? No thank you, I have enough maps." This was actually the first time in two months I had been in the Realm of Light. I didn't have much use for the maps now.

"Oh, but these maps are modified! While you were gone, I found some new secret passages! Oh, do please by a map! I'll give you a discount... how does twenty rupees sound?"

I was surprised by how cheap it was. Tingle was usually cheap, and made things super expensive. I gave in to his offer, and tossed a red rupee up towards him. He caught it in his money box.

"Oh, thank you Mr. Fairy!" Tingle cheered. "Many thanks to you indeed! Tingle-Tingle-kooloo-limpah!" I caught the map he threw towards me. Then he released a handful of confetti, and floated away deeper into the swamp with his balloon.

"Goddess Din, I don't ever want to meet a person like that again," Shuto said, and shuddered.

I laughed, and walked down the path leading to the swamp. We all walked for several minutes, until we came across the witches' house, where Koume and Kotake lived. I couldn't believe they were different from the ones I killed back in the Gerudo desert. But Clock Town had a strange element like that, almost like it was an alternate dimension. Like the Anju who ran the Stock Pot Inn, and the Anju who had pet chickens. Or the Romani that was named after the ranch, and the Malon that I knew had a crush on me. You get my point. But there was one thing I wanted to figure out: was there a second Byrne too? No, there couldn't be... Byrne used to be a knight of Hyrule, so there was no way there could be two of them.

When we finally reached the witches' house, we hid behind a tree when we saw the man still bending over the lake, examining the water.

"All set?" I whispered to the group. They nodded. I quietly pulled out the container that held the plastic hopping frogs, and held it close to the ground. I lifted the lid, and the frogs jumped out, spreading all throughout the area. We hid back behind the tree.

"What the?" we heard the man yell. "What's this?" He ran over to our location. Mitsuhiro jumped up to another tree, along with Shuto, so that they could run around to the other side of the swamp. I hid up in the tree I was leaning against. I began to sweat as the man came to examine the area. He picked up the box that held the frogs, and looked around. _Please don't look up_, I thought.

I heard the shuffling of feet, and then I saw Shuto pounce onto the man with his kunai held to the man's neck. Mitsuhiro attacked soon afterwords, his katana ready. They wrestled with the man, trying to hold him down.

"Ugh, damn kids!" the man yelled. He clasped his hands together, and suddenly, Mitsuhiro and Shuto were thrown back by a strange invisible force. They both landed hard on the ground. The man pulled out what looked like a spear. He aimed it at the boys, but it was strange... he wasn't even holding it. It was just floating to his side.

His back was towards me now, so I took the advantage to jump him. The moment I grabbed onto him, he arched his elbows back, knocking me in the stomach, causing me to fall to the ground.

"I knew you were there the entire time, boy," he muttered. He grabbed the spear, and aimed it at my neck. "And although you've gotten a bit older, I still know who you are. You're Link Nohansen Hyrule, age fourteen, fairy, the Hero of Time, member number five of the so-called 'Time Keepers', and the most trusted adversary of the Princess of Destiny, Zelda Nohansen Hyrule."

How did this guy know so much about me?

"You seem to know everything about me," I muttered. "But who are you?"

"That's a rather bold question coming from _trash _like you. I'm Luxerus Sarutobi, fourth member of the Society."

"Trash?" I screamed. I felt like getting up to rip him to shreds, but the blade of his spear pressing against my neck told me I shouldn't. If he got any of my blood, there would be hell to pay.

Luxerus smirked at me, but then he blinked, as if realizing something, and pulled the spear from my neck. "No... you're blood isn't ready yet," he muttered. His spear disappeared into twilight, and he crossed his arms, a look of disgust crossing his face. "You're still a child, and your abilities are still at a low level. It would be a waste to use your blood as is. I'm just going to wait."

Before I had a chance to jump up and grab the guy, a shadow portal opened up next to him, and he disappeared. Shuto almost caught him too, but he was gone before he had the chance to.

I stood up, and rubbed my neck with my fingers, making sure the man wasn't lying and hadn't actually taken some of my blood. I sighed in relief when there was no blood on my fingertips.

Mitsuhiro walked towards me, and poked my forehead with his index finger. "Dude, you're going to be fine. No sweat," he laughed.

I swallowed, and smiled up at him. "So, Luxerus Sarutobi, right? Great, now we have another one to worry about. But, I guess I shouldn't complain... there are six of them in charge."

"How do you know that?"

"Dex told me that... when I was in Hyrule."

Mitsuhiro smiled, and looked up to the orange sky, the sun setting. "Come on," he sighed. "Uzuki and Yashiro are probably beating the crap out of each other by now. We've kept them waiting too long."

All I could do was laugh.


	30. Time Gate Study

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 30: Time Gate Study**

**The Reapers**

Since joining the Time Keepers, I have made a complete study of the Reapers, the emissaries of darkness. I hope that this information will become useful to whomever will read my Time Gate in the future.

**Uzuki Kasahara**

A seventeen year old girl, death unknown, Uzuki fights with a scythe, can bring her drawings to life, and is very skilled in hand to hand combat. Since her death, she has been trying to re-piece her lost memories on how she died. Whenever she summons her scythe, it appears in a flash of light, followed by pink cherry blossoms. Her berserker attack mode gives her the stronger ability of climbing up walls, no matter how steep, and she also has lightning fast speed, almost three times faster than normal. Her wings resemble any other Reapers, torn and black. She may be an entity of darkness, but she still enjoys to see the light from time to time, which would explain the large window in her room, allowing her to see the view of the Dark Realm field, and the lights of the city.

**Mitsuhiro Minamimoto**

An eighteen year old boy, died in car accident, during testing on the streets of Hyrule. Mitsuhiro fights with a katana, and a weapon known as the Time Distorter, which can be used to physically suck the remaining time from a person or any other living being's life span. He dislikes the fairies, as do all the Reapers, and can be cold and to himself at times. But unlike the other Reapers, Mitsuhiro's berserking attack mode is stronger, giving him even faster reflexes, more physical strength, and stronger weapons. No one knows why his berserker attacks are so much stronger, and it has always been a mystery to Mitsuhiro and the Society themselves. When he died, he wanted revenge against the people that insisted on testing unauthorized experimental car designs and driving them in the open streets of Castle Town.

**Yashiro Takahashi**

A sixteen year old girl, shot to death in an alleyway in Castle Town. Yashiro fights mostly with her fists, but if the situation calls for it, she will use her blade and her kunai gun, a mechanism that fires kunais at her enemies, instead of bullets. After dying, she had been granted the power of strength, allowing her to destroy almost anything in her path with a simple punch. She is not infinitely strong, and there are some objects she cannot handle, but since meeting her, there has been nothing stopping her before. When she died, she wanted revenge against the man that shot her to death. Her berserker attack mode gives her even stronger fists (again, still with some things she can't lift or break), she becomes more agile, and she gets two kunai guns, and can shoot faster.

**Shuto Kaniji**

A fourteen year old boy, died from a serious illness. When Shuto died, he was given the ability to control sound waves. He fights with his hands and feet, but if the fight becomes too hard, he will turn to his flute, which can be used to send immensely strong sound waves through the ears of his enemies, which can cause paralysis, head injury, eardrum destruction, and can even cause death. He is the founder of the Time Keepers, and the younger brother of the second-in-command of the Society, Jun Kaniji, however that doesn't stop him from rebelling against him. Shuto usually takes care of what missions the Time Keepers will be handling, and makes sure that the group is never discovered in the Realm of Light. He has a vast knowledge of both worlds, and even knows quite a bit about the Society, even if he hasn't had any sort of contact with his brother since he became a Reaper. When he died, he wanted revenge against the same man that killed Yashiro, for he was the last person to die in the Realm of Light.

**The Time Keepers**

The Time Keepers is now a full-operational group, and we are constantly seeking new members, but it is hard to trust the Reapers in the Dark Realm, considering most of them side with the beliefs of the Society. Those that don't believe in the Society's ways are not strong enough to handle the missions that we go on, or just believe that our goal is too far to accomplish, and that we'll be killed before we get the chance to stop the Society. This I don't believe. Our missions have become somewhat slim, mostly because the Society hasn't been showing their faces since we destroyed the twilight in the Kokiri forest. It's either that reason, or the fire in Lon Lon Ranch. But I now know that the Society was not fully responsible for that fire, but more or so Dex, who I'm still waiting to rear his ugly head from the shadows. I have not seen the Deity; I haven't even been able to set foot in the Realm of Light in fear of the Society chasing after me. The Time Keepers are keeping constant alert for anything that looks suspicious, but since the fire, there hasn't been a trace. We are training extremely hard though, just in case that the Society decides to make a surprise attack. Our training and mission-watching has risen also since the sight of Luxerus Sarutobi. This means that the Society is still on the same mission, still trying to get me and my 'precious blood'. I say they need better hobbies.

**Princess Zelda**

Not much to say here. I haven't visited her, but I'm guessing she's doing alright considering she's been sending me letters through the traveling postman. I'll rewrite one here for reading again in case I lose the original (which I won't).

_Dear Link,_

_I don't know if this letter will reach you or not, but if it does, I just want to know how you're doing on your journey. It's really lonely here in Hyrule Castle; Impa suggested I write to you. How are the Reapers? You're not working too hard, are you? Things have been fine here, but it's strange when you're not here to visit. The Reapers your friends told me to look out for haven't been appearing, although I have seen the Deity often; I can usually see him sitting on the tower of the Temple of Time in Castle Town when I look outside my window. Is he the guardian there or something? Other than that, things are still the same as they used to be. I haven't seen Dex either, just to let you know. If you have the time, please send a letter back, okay? I'd love to hear how you're doing. _

_Zelda_

Obviously, I can't reply to this letter. If I did, the Society would be able to track me down. The only reason that they haven't found us already is because the house is deep in the forest. But sometimes, I like to write replies anyways, even if I don't send them. I'm hoping that, one day, I'll be able to give her my letters.

So as you can see, not much has changed with us, even after an entire year has passed. I've become a bit stronger, but I still want to train more, so I can become even more powerful. I want to be stronger than Shuto, Yashiro, Uzuki, and Mitsuhiro. I want to be able to destroy the bastards that are trying to screw up my world.

This is the true journey of the Time Keepers.


	31. The Seal

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 31: The Seal**

Where has my time gone?

I still remembered my days as a small boy, always keen on becoming a stronger person.

But now... this dream for strength has turned into a nightmare.

The gentle wind brushed against my face, and a few leaves skipped along the ground with the breeze. I clutched the rope that held the swing up, and I softly pushed myself forwards. I sat motionless on the swing as I moved forwards, then back, repeating this pattern without any hesitation. My feet brushed against the gravel underneath the swing.

Everything was calm.

For everyone else, that is.

But I could feel the rage of darkness stirring within my heart.

Dex still resided within me.

I kept the swing moving slowly, just so that I could slide my toes against the gravel. I was fifteen now. I hadn't seen the Reapers in a few months. I hadn't seen Zelda since I was thirteen, when I had left for my mission to stop Barinade, who resided at Zora's Domain. I missed her, and wanted to see her more than anything, but I couldn't. My powers were too unstable. I didn't want to hurt her.

I looked up at the dull orange colored sky, the sun setting and the moon starting to rise. There were only a few clouds floating past the setting sun. The rest of the sky was clear. I hung my head down, so that I was looking at my feet. I could only hear the sound of my breathing, the breeze blowing the leaves, my feet hitting the gravel, and the creaking sound of the swing. I was the only one at this park.

In fact, this entire place was deserted, like a ghost town.

It was almost as if I could hear the dead screams of the kids who used to play here.

But they were gone now. They disappeared quickly.

Would they be back tomorrow?

I yawned, and lifted my head. I could sense something... something that sent shivers up my spine. I could see three shadows forming at the other end of the park, their bodies blurry from the thin layer of fog that was beginning to appear. I could hear laughter... an evil laughter. I already knew that this place wasn't safe anymore, and that I had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

The shadows turned into clear images, and I could see that they were three boys, all of them way bigger than me. They were all muscular, except for one, but even he looked stronger than me. They approached me with evil smiles on their faces.

"Well, well, look who's here," the first boy snickered. He had dirty blonde hair that spiked up. He was the biggest of the group, and I was guessing that he was also the leader.

I swallowed, hoping that they would leave me alone.

"You're on our turf, kid," the second boy muttered. He looked similar to the first boy, only smaller. He wore a hat, which caused his bangs to fall over his eyes. "Get out," he growled.

I remained on the swing, and raised my eyebrow. Even if they were bigger than me, I could take them. I just had to keep my strength to a minimum in case _it_ would awaken.

The smaller boy walked up to me. He reminded me of Shuto, with his black hair and scrawny body. He reached his hand out, and grabbed the collar of my white shirt. He pulled me off the swing, throwing me onto the gravel. I could feel the small rocks digging into my skin.

Suddenly, the boys started to kick me in the sides, and extremely hard to boot. I tried to get up and fight back, but they kicked me down to the ground.

They had to stop.

Otherwise, I would awaken.

I could feel my heart racing, and I knew I wouldn't remain in my current form much longer. They didn't know the consequences of what they were doing, but I had a feeling they would find out pretty soon.

They finally pulled away, allowing me to stand up. I was sore all over, and my heart was going so fast I thought it would burst.

"Now get out of here!" the leader yelled.

I began to back up, but then they ran after me, forcing me to be chased out of the park. I wanted to fight back, but if I did fight, it would only awaken it...

...The darkness itself.

I ran out into the streets of Castle Town, pushing people out of the way as I ran. I looked back. They were still chasing me, and they looked really pissed off. Luckily I had gotten faster from my own training, but these guys were still pretty fast too.

I turned right, and found myself in an alleyway. I kept running, despite the feeling that my lungs were near bursting. I soon found my path blocked by a wire fence. The boys cornered me. I had to escape.

I could climb up the fence, right?

But... I already knew it was too late.

My heart was racing, and my head was pounding. I gripped the fence tightly with my fingers. I could feel myself changing.

"Please...," I cried in a low voice. "You have to stop..."

The second boy cracked his knuckles, and sneered.

I could feel the darkness welling up inside me. I fell to the ground, still clutching the fence. I looked at my hands. Black markings began to form on my skin, and the Triforce on my left hand changed to a deep black. I screamed. I could feel my entire body changing. My blond hair grew out longer, the ends of my bangs shifting to the color of black. My vision changed, making my sight even sharper than before. I could feel my bottom and top teeth in the corners of my mouth change to small sharp fangs.

I struggled to pull myself off the ground by pulling on the wire fence. I turned my head slightly so that my gaze could target the boys. They looked dumbstruck from my new appearance.

"Pathetic humans," I hissed, and pointed at them. "Don't mess with me."

"Get him!" the leader yelled, and charged at me with his fist. As he got closer, I kicked my leg up, sending him flying through the pavement, out of the alley, and onto the street. A huge hole trails through the pavement, stone pushed up from the ground.

"Run!" the small boy shrieked, and escaped with the other boy into the street. Apparently they were nothing without their leader. People were beginning to gather around the leader of the gang who, amazingly, was still alive.

I smirked, and felt the darkness disappearing. Inside my heart though, I knew that what I did wasn't necessary; it was all Dex's fault. I looked at the ripped black wings on my back, and watched as they disappeared. The scar on my face returned back to its small form, and the Triforce on my left hand turned back to its golden crest. My bangs changed back to the color of blond, and my sight became normal again.

"You really are a bundle of fun, aren't you?" I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up to see Uzuki perched up at the top of the building to my left. She was smiling at me, the feathers in her black wings swaying with the breeze.

"Uzuki, long time no see," I muttered, staring up at her.

"Didn't I tell you a little while ago to be careful?" she groaned.

"Yeah. Months ago."

"That doesn't matter. You know what happens when you turn into Dex. You just can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?"

"Sorry, but things haven't been going all that great. I'm nervous that the Society is going to attack..."

"You don't have to worry about them right now. They haven't been showing up in the Dark Realm either. In fact, some people are starting to believe they don't even exist anymore; which is the big problem. Listen, I came to pick you up to take you back to the Dark Realm."

"The Dark Realm?" I asked. "But... I like it here..."

"Stop acting like that Link! You've been getting really depressed lately! I know this because we've been watching you since you came back to Hyrule! Which strikes another question: you've been hanging around Castle Town, and you haven't seen Zelda yet? And you've been complaining about wanting to see her too!"

"I haven't been complaining, I'm just worried about her, alright? I don't want her to get hurt."

"If you really care about her, at least let her know you're still alive! Have you sent back any of her letters yet?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Link, you're terrible!" she interrupted, raising her voice. She jumped down from the roof of the building, and walked towards me with her arms crossed. "Listen, we have a prediction about what's going to happen next, we just need you to come back to the Dark Realm, alright?"

"Ugh, man, and I was just starting to get used to the Realm of Light again...," I sighed.

We walked out of the alley, and as we passed by the half-unconscious leader of the gang, who was still stuck in the ground, I lowered myself so I was balancing myself with my toes, and lowered my mouth to his ear.

"I told you not to mess with me," I muttered in a low voice, and laughed. He gave me a sour look, and then laid his head against the pavement, falling into unconsciousness.

"You're a terrible person, Link," Uzuki growled as she walked ahead of me.

"I know," I snickered as I followed her through the next alley and into a shadow portal.

When I stepped inside the house in what seemed like forever, the first thing I felt was Kon jumping up and wrapping his arms around me, hugging me tight and refusing to let go. Then I felt Yashiro punch me on the shoulder, greeting me for the first time in months.

"It's been forever Link!" Yashiro said happily, hugging me extremely tight.

"Yashiro! Can't breath!" I gasped. It reminded me so much of Byrne's hugs... at least, without the refusing of letting me go.

"But it's been so long!" Yashiro persisted, and hugged me even _tighter_.

"Yashiro, don't strangle him," I heard Mitsuhiro grumble from the other end of the room.

Yashiro obeyed, and released me. I caught my breath, and smiled at him, silently thanking him. He didn't smile back, and only looked at Uzuki.

"Have you explained the situation yet?" he asked her.

"Not yet. I was going to wait until I got him here," Uzuki explained. She sat down at the kitchen table, along with the rest of the Reapers, and motioned for me to sit down as well.

"Hey, where's Shuto and Miu?" I asked them, wondering where they could possibly be.

"They're on a mission," Uzuki answered.

I blinked. "But you just said that-"

"Yes, I know I said that the Society wasn't doing anything bad. But that's the bad thing."

"What do you mean?"

"It turns out that the Reapers are rampaging," Yashiro muttered. "Because the Society is laying low, they're also not attending to their job of keeping the Reapers in line. Link, have you noticed the death toll rising?"

"Not really," I said.

"It turns out that the Reapers are erasing people without thinking of upsetting the balance between the Realm of Light and Darkness," Uzuki continued. "They're just killing people, and there are a lot more Reapers being created these days. They haven't been striking Hyrule or Kalasia, mostly because of the fairies and the angels. The angels know how to defeat the Reapers, and they've got plenty of weapons infused with light. And they're staying away from Hyrule because they're... afraid."

"Afraid?" I asked, confused. "What would they possibly be afraid of?"

"Princess Zelda... and you."

I became silent. Why would the Reapers be afraid of me? I could understand them being afraid of Zelda, possibly because she could use the power of light. But I didn't have that ability, and I still wasn't that strong, so the Reapers didn't have any reason to be afraid of me, right?

"Wait, we're talking about the Reapers from Selgaria, right?" I asked.

Uzuki gave me a funny look. "Selgaria? Are you talking about the city of the Dark Realm?"

"That's the name of the city, right?"

"Well, yeah, three thousand years ago. No one calls it that anymore, they just call it the Dark Realm City, or the city of the Dark Realm."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. It must have been only Mitsuhiro that called it Selgaria... unless he just told me that to make me feel stupid... what a jerk.

"Why would the Society be afraid of me?" I asked them, changing the subject. "I'm weaker than all of you. I understand them being afraid of Zelda, what with her light spells and everything, but..."

"The reason is because you have the Fierce Deity on your side," Uzuki interrupted. "Since they've been traveling to Hyrule Castle Town, the Reapers have found out that the Deity is the guardian of the Temple of Time; and they also know now that if they try to hurt one person in Castle Town, the Deity will use his powers to stop them. And you know as well as anyone that the Deity fights with light."

I sighed in defeat, knowing that these facts were true. "Is this the only reason you brought me back here? Are there any specific missions you want me to do?"

"One, we want you to stop transforming," Uzuki ordered. "It's not good for your Soul, for you, or for the people around you."

"Hey, it's not like I do it on purpose!" I yelled, remembering the leader of the gang who I'd probably nearly killed. I could feel my temper rising.

"Two, we want you to continue your training," Uzuki continued. "I can easily tell that you haven't been training since the last time we saw each other; months ago. Didn't you say you wanted to become stronger?"

I remained silent.

"Three, we need backup. More Time Keepers, you know?"

"That's impossible...," I muttered.

"You're going to have to take these missions, Link, whether you like it or not. Otherwise Hyrule will be destroyed."

"How do you expect me to control my transforming?" I screamed. "It's not possible! There's no possible way I can control it or get rid of it!"

Uzuki placed her hands on the table, and became silent. She stared up at the ceiling, probably thinking over the situation. "I learned... a bit of black magic in the time you were gone."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I can seal it away, Link. For a time, until you've learned how to control it."

Yashiro glared at Uzuki. "Uzuki... is that really a good idea? You haven't gotten it to work right yet..."

"What have you been testing it on?" I asked nervously.

"Well..."

"She's been testing it on me," Mitsuhiro said, answering the question for her.

I was shocked. But when I looked at Mitsuhiro, he didn't look any different than normal (although his black hair had grown out a bit since the last time I saw him.).

And then, in one fluent movement, Mitsuhiro threw off his hoodie, revealing his bare chest. There were black markings all over his arms, over his stomach, and on his back. They almost looked like thorns, but it was hard to tell. All I knew was that the procedure of getting those marks was painful.

"Uzuki..." I whimpered. "Why would you... test it on Mitsuhiro?"

"He agreed to it," Uzuki sighed. "I didn't want to, but... he was the only one of us who had the same problem as you. His power is stronger, and more unstable, so... I tried to seal it away..."

"And did it work?" I asked in a sarcastic, and still angry tone.

"Yeah, it did... partially. The power is sealed away to a point, but in the end, this happened. I can get rid of it, I just need a little bit more time..."

I looked at Mitsuhiro, who had a painful look on his face. He was biting down on his lip, his arms crossed, and his eyebrows scrunched down.

"Mitsuhiro, why would you agree to something like this?" I asked him.

"Because... it was for the sake of finding a cure," Mitsuhiro said in a low voice. "If Uzuki can get it to work, then maybe my power can become stable... maybe you can get rid of Dex's powers..."

"You would do that just to find a cure?"

"Of course. I can't stand it how I have more powers than everyone else... how I'm always the different one! These powers are a curse! And I can't take it anymore!"

"Mitsuhiro, calm down!" I yelled. I could tell by his tone that he wasn't very far from changing. It was then that I realized he had the exact same problem as I did. Well, except for the difference that I actually had a partially living being inside me. But other than that... we were both perfectly the same.

"Listen to me... Shuto and Miu are going to be back soon," Mitsuhiro said, calming himself down. "We're going on a new mission after that."

"Name it," I said.

"First, like Uzuki said, we're going to seal Dex's powers to a certain point, just until you learn to control it. I know it sounds crazy, but she'll be able to do it. Next, you're going to train with us, for the next few days. All of us; Uzuki, Yashiro, Shuto and me. Then, after we think your training has lasted long enough, then we're going to go to Hyrule. There are Reapers everywhere Link, and we have to stop them from causing anymore damage."

"Actually, I thought of a good plan for that," Yashiro interrupted. "Link, I think you should cause a scene in front of the Reapers."

I blinked. "What good would that do? That would just get me killed!"

"If the Reapers know that you're still alive and still trying to stop them, then the Society will get off their lazy asses and try to stop you. It doesn't sound all that great, but at least the lesser Reapers will know that the Society is watching them, and that they can't kill anymore people without getting punished; because the Society will be watching."

I thought of her plan for a moment. "Yeah, that will work, but there's a loophole: I think the Society is _letting_ the Reapers go on a killing rampage. They're trying to tip the balance of light and darkness between the Realm of Light and the Dark Realm. We have to strike the source: the Society."

"That's suicide!" Yashiro yelled. "We don't have enough people to do that! That's why we need more Time Keepers! Don't you think we would have done that earlier?"

I sat down at the table, ready to have a long discussion over the topic.

"There are a total of six members leading the Society, Link," Uzuki began. "Iwata Hashimoto, Jun Kaniji, Mikumo Sato, Luxerus Sarutobi, Ixion Arisawa and her older twin sister Xixion Arisawa. I've done some research, and I've found out the basics about their fighting styles. Iwata fights with two swords at the same time: a masamune, and a katana. For us, that's a bad combination, because it means trouble. Mitsuhiro should know that, right?"

Mitsuhiro shuddered. "Trust me, a masamune is known as the 'sword of death'. It can suck a person's very souls out, and it can cut a person just by looking at it. They aren't good."

"If you want to know how Jun fights, you're going to have to ask Shuto," Uzuki continued. "It's way too complicated to explain. Mikumo has learned the way of technology, and has a mechanical arm. He also wears a machine over the right side of his face, which has a targeting system for his eyes. Think of it like those Hawkeyes they sell in Kakariko. Moving on to Luxerus, he's an airbender, a person who uses wind magic. His main weapons are multiple spears."

"Yeah, I've seen him demonstrate his weapons," I snickered, remembering the mission I had on my fourteenth birthday. "Please continue."

"Ixion and Xixion fight best together, so it would be great if we could fight them separately. When they're together, one fights with a blade of ice, the other with a blade of fire. I don't know which one uses which."

"Just like Koume and Kotake..." I mumble.

"Hmm?" Yashiro asks, not hearing my words.

"Nothing."

"Now that I've told you that, I hope you can start thinking of strategies to use when fighting the six members of the Society," Uzuki finished.

I smiled. I already knew how to handle Ixion and Xixion.All I had to do was fight the same way I did with Koume and Kotake, and trust me, Twinrova wasn't all that difficult to defeat.

I heard the door open and then slam. Shuto and Miu walked into the kitchen. When he saw me, his face lit up.

"Link-san! I can't believe you're here!" He ran over to me, a huge smile on his face. Miu was on his shoulder, and I could tell that she was happy too. She got bigger in the time I was gone. She was the size of an adult cat, and I could tell she was still growing. But was her fur turning... white? It was hard to tell. It was slightly turning white on her neck, and it was also growing out longer.

"It's good to see you too," I greeted happily. Shuto got bigger, no doubt. In fact, he actually had _muscles_ on his arms. Must have been working out.

"What's the report, Shuto?" Yashiro asked him.

Shuto turned to her. "Man, there are Reapers down there that you wouldn't believe! I'm lucky I'm a Reaper, otherwise I would have been killed in a split second!"

Yashiro groaned. "Dammit! We really have to get rid of these punk asses!"

"Sealing and training first, Yashiro," Uzuki growled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shuto yelled. "You're going to seal Dex? Didn't you see the ending results in Mitsuhiro?"

"Yes, I know," Uzuki sighed. "But I'm not doing it unless Link agrees to do it."

I placed my chin on the table, and looked at Uzuki. I didn't know what to do... what if the procedure failed? Then what would happen? I didn't want to take any risks, especially now that I was back with the Reapers again and ready for another journey.

"Alright," I said, finally deciding on what I would do. "You can seal it. Just... don't make any mistakes, okay?"

Uzuki smiled. "I'll try my best." She stood up from the table, and pulled me into the living room. She grabbed a jar of white sand from the top of the black piano, and told me to stand in the empty space of the room. I obeyed, and stood still, watching as she took a handful of sand and created a strange design around me.

"Just remain calm, okay?" Uzuki said soothingly. I breathed slowly, keeping myself calm, and watched as she finished the last design with the sand. It was like a magic circle, with multiple lines spreading inwards and outwards from the inner circle to the outer circle. When it was finished, it almost seemed to glow with a white effect.

"How long is this going to take?" I asked her.

"It depends. It could last hours."

I sighed. I didn't like waiting for hours, but she did say it would depend. Depend on what?

Uzuki clasped her hands together, then knelt down, and placed her hands on the sand. The light from the sand shone brighter, and seemed to rise from the floor. I felt that I should move, but I remembered that I had to remain calm. I didn't want to know what would happen to me if I panicked.

Uzuki suddenly got a look of panic on her face. I panicked in my head; I knew something was going wrong.

"Mitsuhiro!" Uzuki screamed. "The seal markings are distorting! Quick, get some sand and reforge the seal!"

Mitsuhiro sped across the room to where I was, and grabbed a handful of sand. He began making more lines from where the previous lines of sand where moving away from the circle. Uzuki kept her hands on the circle, and Shuto and Yashiro were coming to help, but she and Mitsuhiro refused the offer.

Uzuki looked up at me. "Don't worry Link... we'll fix this..."

I couldn't respond; I could only stare at Mitsuhiro as he created more lines with the sand. Yashiro, Shuto and Kon watched with worried looks in their eyes as they saw the light around me get brighter. And then, as quick as a snap of the fingers, the light exploded, disappearing from the circle.

I fell to my knees in complete shock, unable to transfer in my mind what had happened. My body felt... weird. My back was burning, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I looked at my arms that were supporting me up. Blood. I saw blood running down them. But where was the blood coming from? My back? I was so weak, I couldn't even get up. What had they done to me? But I noticed that underneath the blood, there were no black markings, not like the ones on Mitsuhiro's arms. Thank the Goddess Din. That meant that it worked, right?

I fell over, unable to hold myself up any longer. Uzuki and Yashiro helped me up from the floor, and set me on the couch on my stomach. Mitsuhiro ran over by their side, staring at me in surprise. What was wrong?

"Uzuki..." I said softly, not wanting to waste my breath. "What happened...?" I felt a cold breeze hit against my back. Weird. I reached up to feel my back, where I was sure it was bleeding, but I felt my skin instead of my shirt. It was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure that the back of my shirt was burned away. I immediately felt a burst of energy, and jumped up from the couch, worried about what had happened to my back. I ran to the bathroom, knowing that Uzuki and the others were running after me.

When I was in the bathroom, I turned so that my back was facing the mirror, and turned my neck around slightly so I could see my back in the mirror. Actually, it was kinda cool. Not. It almost looked like I had gotten a tattoo of the royal crest of Hyrule on my back!

"What is this...?" I asked Uzuki, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"It's the seal," she answered. "The seal that's keeping Dex inside."

I stared at it, the golden Triforce staring back at me from the top of the golden eagle crest. I swallowed, trying to hold back the feelings of sadness in my mind. There was blood running down my shoulders, traveling down my arms and through my fingers. I grabbed a wet cloth, and wiped the blood off my shoulders, arms and hands.

"How long... is this going to be here?" I asked Uzuki slowly.

"Until you learn how to control it," she answered. "Once you do that, I can release the seal."

I closed my hands into fists, and stared down into the sink, feeling sick to my stomach.

"So does this mean I can never change again?" I asked, hoping the answer was 'yes'.

"No," Uzuki replied, making me feel even sicker. "But it will stop Dex's powers to a limit, so you won't be out of complete control. Right now though, you need to worry about training; I want you to start training with Mitsuhiro-san."

Mitsuhiro walked up next to me, and crossed his arms, a smirk spreading on his face.

"You hear that, Fairy Boy?" he muttered in my ear. "Looks like you and I are going to be training together for the next little while."

I gritted my teeth in complete annoyance, and made my fists even tighter. I really wanted to punch the guy's head in, but for some reason, I hesitated.

Oh well. At least the seal was working.


	32. Back to Training

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 32: Back to Training**

Mitsuhiro grabbed my wrists, and snapped them.

"Mitsuhiro, what the hell?" I screamed in pain, looking at my dislocated wrists. "You jack-"

"Hey! Let's watch the language!" he interrupted. He took my wrists, and very quickly snapped the bones back into place. I screamed.

After a few seconds, I moved my wrists around, realizing that it didn't hurt.

"See? Now come on," Mitsuhiro sighed, readying his fists.

"How do I know you're not going to break my _neck_ next time?" I yelled.

He didn't respond. Great, now I had to worry about him killing me, and this was all just training.

"Don't worry, the training we'll be doing later is much better," Mitsuhiro grumbled. "It's a lot of fun, trust me."

"Yeah, fun for you!" I growled, feeling my wrists to see if he had really fixed them. They were just the way they were before he had snapped them; they just hurt a little if I moved them too much.

Shuto came out from the house, approaching us.

"Hey you two, wanna play a game of soccer?" Shuto asked us.

"Huh?" I stammered. "We're training our butts off, and you want to play a game of _soccer_ ? What's wrong with you!"

"Don't underestimate our games," Mitsuhiro interrupted. "Shuto, get the soccer ball ready, and call Uzuki, Yashiro, and Kon. There will be teams of three."

Shuto nodded, and ran back inside the house. After a few seconds, he came out with Uzuki, Yashiro, and a human-sized Kon. He was carrying a soccer ball underneath his arm.

"Okay, it's me, Yashiro, and Mitsuhiro on a team!" Uzuki cheered.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Shuto argued. "You three on a team are impossible to defeat! Look, it'll be me, Yashiro, and Link on a team, and you guys get the handicap, Kon."

"Hey, since when am I a handicap?" Kon growled.

"Whatever, whatever," Yashiro sighed. "Fine, I'll be on a team with Link and Shuto, and Uzuki will be with Kon and Mitsuhiro. Let's just get this game started, alright?"

We all ran to the field in front of the window, and sorted ourselves on our own sides. Yashiro, Shuto, and I stood across from Mitsuhiro, Kon, and Uzuki. Shuto threw the ball into the air, and the game was on. But before I could even think of getting the ball, Mitsuhiro leaped into the air, grabbed the ball with his hands, and threw it to Uzuki.

"Hey, isn't that cheating?" I asked Shuto.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that," he laughed. "When we play soccer, we take it like a training session, so there's no rules."

"Well, when you put it that way..." I began to run towards Uzuki, who was running towards our side to make a goal. I pulled out several kunais as I ran towards her, and threw it at her jeans, so that the blades went through the fabric and into the ground, stopping her in her tracks. She looked down at the kunais in surprise, which gave me a chance to run by her and steal the ball. I ran towards her side towards the goal, but I was soon encountered by Mitsuhiro, who really didn't look that happy. I stopped, and began to turn around from him, scared of what he would do. But I was too late, and he tackled me to the ground. My hands released the ball, and it went flying off somewhere.

I saw Kon jump over me. After Mitsuhiro got off me, I jumped off the ground to see that Shuto had the ball. He was running my way, and Yashiro was running behind him. Uzuki had gotten the kunais out of her jeans and the ground, and was running after Shuto.

I began running parallel to Shuto, waiting for an opening in case he needed to pass the ball to me. Instead, he kicked it up into the sky, and Yashiro flew above him, catching it. She flew across the field, and gave the ball a final kick, hitting it into the goal.

"Nice job Yashiro," Shuto said happily as the three of us gathered in a circle.

"So if this is a training session, what's the point of it?" I asked him.

"Teamwork. If you can learn how to fight with your teammates, nothing can stop you."

"Then maybe we shouldn't have put Kon, Uzuki and Mitsuhiro on a team..." Yashiro muttered. "Uzuki and Mitsuhiro work together like they were brother and sister, and Kon always pals around with Uzuki..."

"You may have a point," Shuto groaned. "That doesn't matter though! Link and I get along great, and you and I are always going to be awesome friends, right?"

She didn't respond.

"...R-Right?"

Still no response.

Shuto sighed in defeat, and stood up. Uzuki, Mitsuhiro and Kon were huddled in a circle, like they were making a football game plan.

"Hey, are you three almost finished over there?" Shuto yelled.

"Yeah, we're finished!" Kon yelled back.

We lined up again, and this time it was my turn to throw the ball. This game was pretty much more like _football_ than soccer. I hadn't seen anyone just kick it yet. I threw the ball into the air, and in less than a second Uzuki and Yashiro were in the air, slamming into each other and falling to the ground. The ball landed right in Kon's hands. He began running to our side, ready to score a goal. Not if I had anything to say about it.

I began to run after him, and I almost caught him too, but before my hands could get a grip on him he turned to a doll, vanishing in a poof of smoke and sending the ball upwards. Mitsuhiro jumped over me, grabbing the ball and finishing Kon's race towards the goal. He kicked the ball, sending it flying through the goal and into the trees in the forest.

"Nice going, dumbass," Yashiro groaned. "Now who's gonna get it this time?"

"I'll go get it," I volunteered. I ran into the forest, leaving behind the rest of the group to find the soccer ball. I looked around in the forest for a while, but I couldn't see it anywhere.

_Man, where did that dummy kick it?_ I thought furiously. _He didn't even kick it that hard!_

I finally spotted it in a tree high above me. I groaned, and began running up the side of the tree. I swung myself up the tree using the branches, landing on the next one each time, until I finally got to the branch that was holding the ball. I grabbed it, and jumped down from the tree, landing in the grass. I looked around; I had never been to this section of the forest surrounding the house before. I turned towards the field, and began walking out of the forest, hoping that after the game I could explore this area a bit more.

**A Short Interlude**

The red-haired man sat motionless in the tree, watching as the boy left the forest area. He smiled, happy that he had gotten the information he had wanted to. He pulled out his notebook and pen, and began writing information, reciting the words as he wrote them.

"Link Nohansen Hyrule. Has the ability to walk up trees, and possibly other surfaces too." He pulled the guitar off his back, and began playing a few notes. "Man, I hate missions like these. I'm sure I could be good friends with him if he wasn't such a good little fairy." He put his black sunglasses over his thin red eyes, and rested his head against the tree. "But the kid doesn't have any good natural instincts yet... he didn't even see me sitting here..."

"Talking to yourself again, Saru?"

He looked back to see the tall man standing on the tree behind him. His face was covered by a strange white mask with red and blue markings, and stopped at the back to allow his orange spiky hair to blow in the breeze.

"Hello Ikkashi," Saru mumbled. "They gave you a mission? Or are you just lazing around?"

"I should be asking you that," Ikkashi snapped.

"I'm on a mission; a really boring one. An awesome dude like me shouldn't be doing lame missions like these."

"You and your big ego. Head back to the Society, you're done now."

"Just because you're in Iwata's division doesn't mean you get to boss me around."

"I have that right. Get back to the Society."

Saru laughed, and attached his guitar back to the strap on his back.

**Chapter 32 (continued)**

I kicked the ball towards Mitsuhiro, and we started a third game. I was starting to get how Shuto and Yashiro fought together, and each new plan we made was better than the last. It was fun too, playing soccer with the Reapers. They were better than I thought (but Uzuki did say she used to suck at it pretty bad; half the time all she could do was get hit in the face when she was a human. Maybe that was why she was so good at dodging now?) Yashiro took everything too hardcore though, and I was sure that each time she kicked the ball she would end up knocking someone's head off if she wasn't careful. Shuto was good at it, and Mitsuhiro was fast; he could get the ball halfway across the field in less than two seconds. It made me think how much training I had to do before I could actually hold the ball for more than a second.

When our last soccer game was done, all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, even if we were still outside in the front yard. I had been hit in the back with the soccer ball in one of the games, and I was sure my back was starting to bruise by now, if not worse (I just hoped that the seal wouldn't be affected; probably not.).

When I was inside the house, I really wanted to go into my room and fall asleep on the bed, but before I could step any closer to my room, Yashiro grabbed my arm and pulled me to the piano.

"What is it Yashiro?" I whined. "I want to go to sleep..."

"Stop complaining," Yashiro muttered, and sat next to me on the piano bench.

"What are we doing...?"

"Listen, one way to use kunais, shurikens and other ninja tools effectively is to have speed with your fingers. So, I'm going to teach you how to play the piano."

"How is that going to help?"

Yashiro began to play the piano with amazing speed. It was like her fingers were magically flying over each key, and they were going so fast that I couldn't even see her fingers touch the keys. In fact, I felt a bit dizzy when she was finished playing.

I blinked. "I'm sorry, I really didn't see anything after the first key..."

"Don't worry, it didn't take me this long to learn how," Yashiro said encouragingly.

"It took you years, Yashiro," Uzuki muttered as she passed by her. "And even I'm better at it than you. I heard at least twenty mistakes while you were playing that song."

"Shut up," Yashiro mumbled. She turned to me again. "So, do you at least know how to play the scales?"

"Uh, I don't even know the notes..." I said.

"Great, we have to start from square one. That's just _wonderful_." I could tell she was being sarcastic.

"Just teach him the notes, Yashiro," Uzuki muttered as she left the room. I was surprised that all of this would help with my kunai and shuriken throwing. Yashiro told me which notes were located where, and then she told me to play from the first 'C' note to the next 'C'. My fingers kept fumbling on the keys, and it sounded like a messed up scale when it was finished.

"You sure are darn lucky I didn't electrocute the wrong keys, otherwise you would be burned to a crisp by now!" Yashiro grumbled.

"I've never played the piano before..." I whined. "And this is just the first day..."

"My _dog_ could play better than you! And he's still alive; and retarded!"

"There's no need to compare me to a retarded dog..." I muttered.

"I think it's perfectly necessary. Now _play_!"

I kept playing for the next hour, and got good enough to be able to play the scale. But when I remembered the fast playing that Yashiro did, the thought sent shivers up my spine. _Uzuki can play the ocarina and the flute, _I thought._ Mitsuhiro plays guitar, Shuto plays the flute, and Yashiro plays the piano..._

"I'm done for today, Yashiro," I sighed as I stood up from the piano bench. I stretched my sore fingers out, and cracked my knuckles. Who knew that playing piano would hurt my fingers so much?

I looked at the clock. It was six o'clock in the evening. I was so bored... but I didn't exactly want to go to sleep yet, even if I was really tired. I walked out to the kitchen to see Uzuki working on mission sheets.

"Hey Uzuki, do you have any of those comic books on you?" I asked her. "One that I would probably like to read?"

She looked up at me, and smiled. "Of course I do! There's a box of them in my room, by the door. Just go ahead and take what you want."

I turned to walk down the hallway, and I opened Uzuki's door.

"Uzuki, what the hell!" I screamed. Her room was... freaky. It was nice and clean, and there were books lining the bookshelves everywhere, but right in the middle of the room were bandages hanging from the ceiling. And there wasn't a bed either.

"Something wrong?" Uzuki asked me as she walked into her room.

"What's up with those bandages?" I asked, pointing to the strands of cloth hanging from the ceiling.

She gave me a funny look. "That's my bed. It's where I sleep."

I tilted my head and stared at it. "How can that possibly be your bed?"

"Many ways. Sometimes, I tie myself up like I'm in a cocoon, and sometimes I just tie the ends of the bandages to the ceiling so that I can lie down in the bandages like they're a hammock. I also wear a bandage blindfold."

I scowl at her. "What is with you and bandages?"

"I don't know, they just look cool..."

"Wait, what if there was an emergency, and you had no time to get unraveled from the bandages?" I asked curiously. I imagined Uzuki getting tangled up in the bandages because she was trying to run for her life. That thought makes me laugh.

"That's easy," she replied. "I always have a little ring attached to my finger, so if there was an emergency, I twitch my finger, and the bandages come unraveled. I have the whole thing hooked up Link, so you don't have to worry about me." She flicked me in the forehead.

"What? I'm not worried... I was just thinking about what would happen if an emergency ever arose."

"Sure, sure, I'll accept that excuse." On the way out of the room, she kicked the box by the door. I looked inside to see piles of small thick comic books on top of each other. I looked at her bookshelf, and realized that there were more there too. In fact, almost all of the books in this room were composed of comic books; about one quarter were novels, and most of them were either demon books, romance novels, or action stories.

"By the way Link," Uzuki called from the kitchen. "Stay away from the romance novels. You're too young."

"I happen to be fourteen," I yelled back.

"You're still too young. Read some mangas or something, just stay away from the romance novels."

"It's not like I want to read them or anything!"

"Doesn't matter. For your own sake, _don't read them_. Last warning."

I shrugged, and began digging through the mangas in the box. There were a whole bunch, and they all ranged from action, to mystery, crime, horror, humor, mangas for girls, mangas for boys, and what do you know? Romance. I shuddered, and grabbed one of the action mangas. I skimmed through the pages, and read the summary at the back. I took the first three books out with me to the kitchen, and I sat down at the table as I began to read it. It took me quite a while to get used to the format of reading it*, but I managed to finish the first few chapters. But then, I got strangely addicted, and I really couldn't stop reading. I ended up reading the first seven books of the series. It took me three hours to get that far.

"Ugh, it's so long!" I groaned.

"Well, brace yourself, that manga has over forty books so far, and it's still going," Uzuki muttered.

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. They are a lot of mangas out there that have forty books."

"How do you handle that?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm currently reading every manga in my room, and I've only finished a few of them."

"How can you possibly keep track of all those names? I thought you said you have a terrible memory!"

"Yeah, I do. With regular stuff. Like, if I one of my pencils on the coffee table to do something, I'll forget where I put it, and I'll start tearing the house apart looking for it. But for stuff like mathematical procedures, books and other stuff like that, I remember it forever."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You're kind of creepy now that I think about it."

"You think?" she asked me sarcastically.

"You sleep in a bed of bandages, you read mangas like no other person on this planet, and you just act plain weird on normal occasions."

"Yeah, well your face is weird..." she mumbled.

"Huh? Oh, whatever."

"I find it's better to be weird than normal. The ones that call themselves 'normal' are the weird ones. And the normal ones never made history, it was always the weird ones. And even the most normal people have something weird about them."

I thought over her words for a second, and then nodded in agreement. "You know Uzuki, you may be weird, but you're smart too."

"Thank you. Listen, I know all the weird things about the Time Keepers. Yashiro loves to fight, right? Well, she also loves cute animals. I got her a kitten for her birthday once, and she was all over it like she was going to eat him! What did she name him again... oh yeah, she called him Twilight."

"Alright, that _is_ a bit weird, but what about Shuto?" I asked, getting more interested in the conversation.

"Hmm... well, you know that spiky haircut he has? Turns out it's natural. He doesn't use anything to make it spiky. Even brushing his hair out just makes it spiky again."

"Okay, that's just freaky," I laughed.

"It's a kid thing. Kid Reapers like Shuto always have spiky hair for some reason."

"Did you?"

"No, I was sixteen when I died, so my soul wasn't in a kid state when it arrived at the Society. Neither did Mitsuhiro or Yashiro."

"Aw, that would have been funny to imagine." Mitsuhiro with spiky hair? That would be hilarious if you ask me.

"Anyways, the weird thing about Mitsuhiro is that he's actually a really good singer. He used to dream about having a band when he was a human, and when he put his singing skills with his electric guitar-playing skills together, he sounds... amazing. He also used to adore this band; in fact, Yashiro, Mitsuhiro and I all adored it*. Shuto was more into the orchestration music though..."

_Mitsuhiro, a good singer? _I thought. _Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it!_

**A Short Interlude**

The red-haired man named Saru leaped across the buildings, following his friend Ichiru across the rooftops. Saru watched the Reaper children below quickly go by as he passed by them. Both Saru's and Ichiru's black robes flapped in the wind as they made it to the border of the Dark Realm City.

"So, you said this kid could walk up trees, right?" Ichiru asked Saru.

"Saw it with my own eyes, buddy," Saru muttered. "The fairy is getting stronger."

"But it's been almost two years since the Society told us to start targeting him! And he's only learned Soul control?"

Saru stopped at the last house roof that divided them from the city and the Dark Realm field.

"It's been two years, but he might have learned more than Soul control," Saru said. "That's why we're going out to investigate."

"Are you sure?" Ichiru asked him. "We're supposed to stick with our divisions, not go out and do missions on our own."

"I really don't care about our divisions right now. Face it, I'm stuck with a six year-old, and you're with a dude who fights with _water_. Like that really does much damage." Saru jumped off the rooftop and onto the grass, Ichiru jumping off after him. They began running through the field of the Dark Realm, running towards the forest surrounding the Time Keepers' house to the south.

"Hey, if you know where they live, shouldn't you report it?" Ichiru asked.

"No, not yet," Saru answered. "This Link guy sounds pretty cool to me. What if the Society is driving us towards something irreversible?"

"That's impossible. We're going towards a perfect goal right now."

"But... what if it's better just to have things the way they used to be? When the Reapers killed people to keep the balance, not to upset it?"

Ichiru didn't respond.

"Ichiru, I want you to keep your mouth shut about this conversation, alright?" Saru asked him. "Don't tell _anyone_ where we're going, what we discovered, or what we believe should happen, otherwise it will be the death of both of us."

"I can keep a secret," Ichiru accepted.

"Good. But I still want to fight Link, as a Reaper. It's my job to keep him from causing any harm to the Society."

"You're going to get bit in the ass by this eventually Saru, I can see it happening."

"Just keep it a secret, and it'll be alright."


	33. Gone

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**An Interlude**

"Hey Ikkashi! Have you seen Saru anywhere?"

The man looked at the little girl leaning against the doorway of his room as she tied a pink ribbon around one of her pigtails.

"The last time I saw him, he was slacking off in some forest, in the middle of nowhere," he mumbled.

"He must be on a mission. Could you tell him that I want to talk to him if you see him?"

"Whatever, Miki."

"You're so mean!" she pouted, crossing her arms and sticking out her lip.

"And you're a child."

"I'm telling Mikumo-sama on you!" She left the room, pouting all the way down the hall.

Meanwhile, Saru and Ichiru were still running and flying through the plains and hills of the Dark Realm. It had been hours, but both of them were the least bit tired. Their Reaper Society training had done them good.

"By the way Saru, where are we going anyways?" Ichiru asked his red-haired friend dumbly.

"You'll see," Saru mumbled.

"But we're headed straight towards the Twilight Realm! There's no point in going there!"

"There's someone I need to meet though."

"A Twili? Who?"

"I'll introduce her to you once we get there."

"Her? Saru, have you been meeting up with girls behind my back again?"

"She's an old friend," Saru mumbled, ignoring Ichiru's smart remark. "And she might not take to your personality, so be nice."

"No problem." And then he gave Saru a thumbs-up.

As they approached the huge hill, they could see the immense wall of twilight growing. This twilight was different than the twilight in the Dark Realm; it was thicker, and if you went through, you would end up in the kingdom of the Twilight Realm

Saru approached the wall, and pulled out a necklace from his back pocket. It was a heart locket. He began swinging it around on his fingertip until Ichiru reached the wall.

"So how are we going to get in?" Ichiru asked him.

Saru didn't respond, and walked straight through the twilight like it was water. Ichiru gave a look of surprise at this, amazed that Saru could walk through the twilight, an ability that only the Twili people had.

Ichiru peered into the darkness of the wall, and jumped in fear when a huge red-orange colored hand reached out and grabbed his body, pulling him in through the twilight. He landed on the ground on the other side, and reached for his sunhat that had fallen off his head when he had been pulled in. He glared up at Saru as he positioned his hat and stood up.

"Could you at least warn me!" Ichiru yelled. "What did you just do?"

"What, did the Society not tell you?" Saru mumbled as he balanced his sword against his shoulder. "I was never a Reaper. I was always a Twili. I joined the Society as the first Twili ever to join, and I even managed to survive the extremely painful mid-transformations to Reaper, just so I could erase people, get the wings, and the berserker ability. But I'm still a Twili."

"That's screwed up, Saru."

"But it's the truth. The person we're about to meet is also a Twili, and a very highly-known one at that, so treat her with a bit of respect, alright?"

But Ichiru was too busy admiring the huge black castles towering above them. Twili vultures were flying through the twilight-ridden sky, and there were black meadows as far as the eye could see. It looked similar to the Dark Realm, but there was less sunlight streaming through the black clouds, and there were more twilit creatures running around. And there was also more twilight rising up from the ground. Another thing that separated this place from the Dark Realm was that it had a ruler, the Twilight Princess. The only thing that ruled the Dark Realm was the ferocity of the Society and the Reapers in charge.

"So where's this girl you're supposed to be meeting?" Ichiru asked Saru as he brushed the dirt off his robe.

Saru looked around the area. "Strange, she should be here. I asked her to meet me."

"When was the last time you met up with her?"

"Um... around seven years ago?"

Ichiru sighed. "How in the world do you expect her to remember that? You're wasting your time, Saru!"

"Shh..." Saru hissed.

"What, do you hear the imaginary clock ticking? This is a waste of time, I tell you!"

"Ichiru, would you shut up?" Saru leaned against the brick wall of one of the buildings, and placed his ear against the surface. He could hear a faint beeping noise. He ran from the wall, and pushed Ichiru away, yelling, "Get down!"

The wall exploded, dust and brick flying everywhere. Saru pulled his sunglasses over, preventing the debris from hitting his eyes, and when the dust finally settled, he lifted his glasses and gazed at the creature standing in the midst of the explosion.

"You always knew how to make an entrance, Zero!" Saru laughed. He approached the short girl and gave her a high-five. She smiled, revealing small fangs in the top corners of her mouth.

"I feel that you deserved it," the girl mumbled. "Ever since you left to join the Society, I never had a chance to see you again! Seven years is way too long, Saru!"  
"I had to sneak out of the city to get here, Zero. It's not like I can come here on a regular basis."

"Of course, I understand. Who's this by the way? I can tell he's not a Twili."

Saru turned to Ichiru. "This is Ichiru, from the second division of the Society. Don't worry, he's the same as me; he wants to meet the person we're targeting."

Zero smiled at Saru. "And just _who_ are you targeting this time?"

"The famous Link Nohansen Hyrule; also known as the Hero of Time."

Zero smiled, revealing sharp fangs. "Wow. That's a really important mission. Good luck, Saru."

"But Zero," Saru mumbled. "There's another reason I came here."

"Really? I figured that," she giggled. "Then how about one last game before you tell me? A game of hide-and-seek, perhaps?"

Saru rolled his eyes. "We don't have the time for that!"

"Sure you do. Come on, it'll be the old hide-and-seek with notes game." Zero took out a scribbler, and handed a second one to Saru. "Would Ichiru-san like to play?"

"Uh, Saru, what is she talking about?" Ichiru asked Saru.

"Fine, but just for a little bit, okay?" Saru sighed, ignoring Ichiru's question. He tossed the heart locket he was holding earlier to Zero.

"It's about time you returned this thing!" Zero laughed. "Alright, let's play!" In a blur, Zero disappeared, leaving Saru and Ichiru alone to find her. A note fluttered down from where Zero had disappeared. Saru picked it up and read the tiny handwriting on the ripped piece of paper.

_Thanks for visiting, but I must disappear again._

_I must find a person to possess, as you can see._

_Because I am still a fledgling, not matter how strong._

_I shall drop this locket in the world of the humans._

_And I will wait for someone to find it._

_Hopefully I can return to you someday with the person I shall soon possess._

_Until that day, my Saru, I bid you farewell, as you, Ichiru._

_I hope to see you again, but until I do, stay out from the shadows._

_You never know what lurks there._

Saru flipped over the piece of paper, and wrote something down with his pen.

_I hope to see you again._

_And that our meetings won't take too long to occur again._

_I wish you all the luck._

_And I hope that when I see you again, you will be as strong as you dream to be._

_Goodbye, and good luck, my dear Zero._

Saru turned the note into twilight, and gazed off into the bright light forming behind the castle.

"You two are good friends, huh?" Ichiru said.

"Childhood friends," Saru replied. "And she's on her own journey now. It's up to me to find her. That's just how she plays hide-and-seek. Which means that my mission is useless now."

"What did you want to do?"

"I wanted... to tell her that I will be quitting the Society."

Ichiru had a look of surprise. "Y-You're quitting!"

"Not yet. Not until I meet Zero again. She said this game was going to be short, so I should see her in just another few years."

"Saru, don't you know what they'll do to you if you quit? They'll execute you! They won't let anyone quit because of previous incidents when Reapers leaked information!"

"They'll understand," Saru mumbled. "I was never a Reaper to begin with. I'm a Twili. What kind of information could I give to my tribe?"

"Not to your tribe... but to the person you really want to help. You want to fight on Link's side, don't you?"

Saru looked up to the sky. "Maybe. But first, I want to see how strong he is, to see if he really is worth fighting with. If he's just another weakling, then I'll stay in the Society and do what I was ordered to do: to bring him back to the Society and to use his blood to revive Ganondorf. Besides, people don't get stronger by fighting people weaker than them. If you want to get stronger..." Saru withdrew his sword. "...then you have to fight people stronger than you."

"Then I'm on your side, Saru," Ichiru said. "Even if I am a Reaper, I don't like the system that the Society thinks on. They could end humanity as we know it, and I still care about the people I love in the human world."

"We'll work together then. We'll stay in the Society, but we'll keep an eye on Link and his friends. And you know what? We're lucky. I don't think Ikkashi saw the house where Link is staying when he met me in the forest around the house. Ikkashi would capture Link immediately if he found him. And you know how dangerous Ikkashi can be."

Ichiru nodded, and turned to the twilight wall. "Then let's go, Saru. We have work to do."

**Chapter 33: Gone**

_The rain pounds against my skin as I look across the black twilight-stained water. I don't know where I am, but the place reminds me a lot of the Dark Realm. I bend down and look at my reflection in the water. I can see my face, but something's wrong... my hair his black, and there are black markings on the left and right sides of my face. My clothes are black, and the area around my pupils are black. I also look older._

_I look up to see Dex standing far away from me, way out in the black water. He's just standing there, staring at me with an intense look in his eyes. He licks his bottom lip, and holds his hand out towards me. I can't help but walk into the water, getting closer and closer to him with each step. I don't want to approach him... I don't want to get myself killed... but his outstretched arm and cruel gaze scares me and comforts me at the same time._

_When I'm finally in front of him, he lowers his arm, and licks his bottom lip again. _

_"Do you honestly think that pathetic seal... can hold me away?" he screams, and pushes me into the water. I know that I'll just land on my back considering how shallow it is, but instead, I fall through the water like it was seven feet deep. I keep falling through the darkness, Dex disappearing from my sight. I keep falling, thinking that I'm going to hit the ocean floor soon, but I keep falling into eternal darkness. I close my eyes, and wait for the darkness to swallow me into its deep abyss._

What woke me up from my dream was the sound of a loud thump, and someone yelling, "Dammit, that hurts!"

I sat up in my bed, and walked to the door. The Reapers had let me stay the night, even though I had wanted to stay at my little house in Clock Town. I opened the door, and quietly tip-toed out to the living room. There was Uzuki, walking around in a circle around the couches and the coffee table. She was limping on her left foot.

"Uzuki?" I asked curiously, wondering what in the world she was doing. I looked at the clock; it was two in the morning! Why in the world would she be walking around in circles at two in the morning!

I walked in front of her, snapped my fingers in her face, yelling, "Uzuki, what are you doing?"

She blinked, almost like she was in a trance. Then she stopped walking, and glared at me.

"Dang it Link, why did you have to do that?" she yelled at me.

"Why were you walking around in circles?" I argued.

"I was _thinking_, alright?"

"At two in the morning?"

She looked at the clock. "Oh, it's that late? Oops, I guess I overdid it this time... Just go back to sleep, okay?"

"I had a nightmare, alright? Besides, you're the one that needs sleep! By the way, why are you walking like that?"

"Oh, I accidentally hit my foot against the side of the couch again... it's nothing, it happens all the time..."

"Be more careful, alright?" I muttered, and turned back to the hallway to go back to my room. "And go to bed, okay? You need sleep, I've been noticing the dark rings under your eyes."

Uzuki began to walk in circles again. "I've had these things all my life, Link. And I don't need to sleep right now. Go to bed. Goodnight."

I groaned, and went back to my room, when I saw a light under Yashiro's door. I knocked on the door.

"Come in," Yashiro replied.

I opened the door and walked into her room. The light was coming from her lamp, and she was upside-down on an armchair reading a book. There were a lot of books in this room too, but unlike Uzuki's room, the books weren't put on bookshelves; they were spread out everywhere on the floor and on the desk in the corner of the room. They were mangas like Uzuki's, and there were demon and vampire books too. There weren't many romance ones like Uzuki's; most of them were adventure, fantasy, or vampire books.

"What is it?" Yashiro asked me, not bringing her eyes from her book. I could tell from the cover that it was a vampire book.

"I was just wondering where the light was coming from," I answered. "I also wanted to know... why is Uzuki out there in the living room walking around in circles?"

Yashiro smiled, and sat up in her armchair, continuing to read her book. "She's been doing it since she was a human. It helps her think. I don't know what she thinks about... I never asked her. I'm guessing that she just thinks of the stuff that's going on, and what she wants to do about it. When she was a human, she'd listen to music while she walked."

"Shouldn't you get some rest?" I asked her.

"I already slept. I'm not the kind of person to sleep long; I usually only get a few hours of sleep a night. I'm reading a book so that I can tire myself out."

"And how's that working so far?" I asked her sarcastically.

"Don't make me punch you," she muttered. I laughed, and turned towards the door.

"Try and get some sleep, alright?" I said.

"Whatever."

I smiled, and closed the door. I was sure that Mitsuhiro and Shuto were already asleep, so I went back to my room to try and get to sleep again. I opened the door to my room, and stepped inside. I sat down at my bed, and looked out the large window. I could see a clear vision of the front lawn through it. I could also see... Mitsuhiro and Shuto. They weren't sleeping either?

I watched them through the window, watching as Mitsuhiro battled Shuto out on the front lawn. They were only using their hands, not weapons. I continued to watch as they battled. It was the first time I had seen to expert hand-to-hand combat fighters train with each other. Their hands and feet moved extremely fast, so fast that sometimes I only caught a blur before the other person made the next move. I began comparing their moves to mine. I wasn't as fast, my punches and kicks weren't as strong... it was then that I realized how much work I needed to do before I became as strong as them. I began to wonder how long it took them to become so good at fighting. Did they learn it on their own, or did they learn how to do it when they were reborn as Reapers? Did it take a couple of years, or did it take ten? I began to think of myself in the future... of myself fighting with even faster and stronger moves than them...

I kept watching them as they fought for the next hour, until they stopped and came inside. I was extremely tired by now, so I curled up in my bed and fell asleep not two minutes later.

When I woke up, it was raining outside. That was something I didn't think would usually happen in the Dark Realm, but I guess I was wrong. I crawled out of bed and proceeded to the living room, where Uzuki and Yashiro were talking about something. Yashiro was eating from another bag of spicy quesadilla chips, and Uzuki was drawing in her sketchpad. I also saw Kon reading a manga in the corner of the room with Miu.

"Good morning," Uzuki said to me as she looked up from her sketchpad.

"Where's Shuto and Mitsuhiro?" I asked.

"They're out on a mission," Yashiro replied as she stuffed her face with another handful of chips.

"In this weather?"

"It's not that bad out, actually," Uzuki muttered. "Just a little bit of rain. But there may be some thunder and lightning later..."

"What's their mission?"

"Mitsuhiro has been feeling a bit cautious lately. He says that he feels someone has been watching us. So, he and Shuto left to scope out the place."

I looked out the huge window at the wind and rain that was starting to get worse. It was harder to see through the trees where I could normally see the lights from the Dark Realm city because of all of it. There was also a strange fog starting to grow...

"What time did they leave at?" I asked.

"Um, I think they left around two hours ago," Uzuki answered, and began drawing in her sketchpad again. "Don't worry, it's Mitsuhiro. He's strong enough to defend himself."

I agreed with her. When Mitsuhiro fought with all his heart, he was invincible. Even Yashiro didn't stand a chance.

While we were waiting for Mitsuhiro and Shuto to return, we all just hung out together. Uzuki gave me a few drawing lessons, and I practiced the piano for a little while. I also later joined Kon and read at least three more volumes of my favorite manga. Now that I had gotten used to them, I could read one regular chapter in less than five minutes, so I ended up reading a few volumes too (although I did stay on some pages longer because of the awesome drawings of the characters fighting).

Kon lifted his head from his manga. "Uzuki, this character has the same name as me!" he exclaimed.

Uzuki continued to draw. "Yeah, I know. I named you after him because he was my favorite character out of the entire manga. He still is."

"Does that mean I'm your favorite?" he asked excitedly.

Uzuki drew a blank expression. "Uh... yeah, sure, I guess you can say that..."

"You hear that Link? I'm Uzuki's favorite!"

"Oh, go lie around behind the couch or something," I mumbled, rolling my eyes at him.

Kon stuck his tongue at me, and then continued to read his manga.

I heard the door open. While it was open, I could hear rain hitting the ground hard, like grains of rice quickly hitting a rock surface, only ten times worse.

Shuto came into the living room, soaking wet. His hair wasn't the least bit spiky; instead, it was falling over his eyes and clinging to his face from all the rainwater. His clothes were drenched, and he was extremely pale, as white as a sheet. He was also breathing heavily, like he had been running or flying extremely fast for miles. And as he walked in, he kept his head down.

"Shuto, what happened?" Yashiro asked him.

He kept his head down, the water dripping from his hair and onto the floor. Then he punched the wall, which sent off a loud ringing sound through our ears. I fell to my knees, holding my hands to my ears to prevent the sound from getting in.

"Shuto, what the hell?" I screamed once the terrible sound was gone. Shuto lifted his heads, and I saw the glowing red eyes of a demon.

"Shuto, what happened?" Yashiro asked again, this time in a more panicked tone. Shuto still didn't respond, and quickly ran to me, grabbing my arm. He also grabbed Uzuki's arm, and he glared at Yashiro. She knew to follow him as he pulled us through the kitchen and outside into the rain. Kon followed us too, riding on Miu's back.

When he finally let us go, he threw us out into the front lawn.

"Shuto, what's gotten into you?" Uzuki yelled.

Shuto pointed towards the forest. "Mitsuhiro... he's gone, alright? I don't know where he went, but... he disappeared! You have to go find him!"

"Mitsuhiro is gone!" Uzuki screamed. "What do you mean he's gone? Did the Society-"

"The Society had nothing to do with this!" Shuto hissed. "It was all Mitsuhiro's doing! I turned my back for one second, and the next thing you know, he's gone! All that I found left behind was his headband!" He took out Mitsuhiro's black headband from his back pocket, and threw it to the ground in anger. I picked up the headband, and examined its metal. A cut 'x' was drawn straight through the Triforce engravement; once I examined it a bit harder, I noticed that the only way it could have been cut like that was by a kunai. That probably meant... that Mitsuhiro was attacked by someone. But Shuto said that the Society had nothing to do with it...

So who did it?


	34. Zelda and Zero

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 34: Zelda and Zero**

I pulled the huge trench coat around my body, covering the Triforce on my hand with my sleeves. I looked out the window to see bright sunshine and a blue sky. Why did Yuuki and Vincent want to see me at a time like this? I hadn't seen them in a few months, but it wasn't safe to sneak out during the day, when I could be easily spotted by the guards or the maids. Or worse, Impa.

I opened the window. There was no wind, and there were guards patrolling the grounds in the courtyard. I would have to sneak out through the library again. The guards didn't patrol the courtyard often, but if they ever did, I would have to take the secret passage through the castle library, which I hated. But if I didn't want the guards, the maids, or Impa to see me, I really had no choice.

I closed the window, and turned to my schedule on the wall. Today was also good for sneaking out, because my schedule was free all day; I could do whatever the heck I wanted to.

I grabbed my wallet, opened my bedroom door, and walked out of my room. I began to quickly walk down the circular staircase, putting my wallet into my coat pocket as I went. I didn't see any maids around, and the guards were busy patrolling the entrance to the castle, and the throne. When I was off the staircase, I walked to the other side of the room, where the door to the library was.

"Hey Princess!" one of the guards greeted.

_Crap, _I thought angrily. I stopped in my tracks, and waved to the guard. "Hey!" I called

"Where are you headed off to all of a sudden?"

Why did all the guards have to be like this? Couldn't I _enjoy_ my day off? Being the guards, they were probably wondering why I was wearing a trench coat, or where I had even gotten it for that matter. "Um, I'm going to the library." The guards would never have agreed to let me out into the market. They would have thought I was crazy.

"Alright, stay safe!"

_Stay safe?_ I thought. _I'm going to the library, what's the worst that could happen? I could get a paper cut or drop a book on my toes? Sheesh, you guys worry too much._

I continued towards the library, approaching the large door. I turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. When I stepped inside, the old woman that cared for the library perked her head up from her book and smiled at me. She set the book on her desk.

"Hello Princess Zelda," she said. "It's been a while since you've been here. It's good to see you."

"You don't have to say that, it's not like we live in different countries," I muttered. "I'm right across the hall."

"Yes, I know, but you're always so busy. I don't want to bother you with your work."

"Don't worry about that. If you ever want to say hello, just come out and say it. I like it when people come to visit me."

"What about that boy that used to come here? I can't remember his name... He was the one that always wore green."

"Oh, that was Link. I haven't seen him in over a year."

"Where did he go?"

"He went on his own journey. I don't know where he is now, but... I hope he's safe."

"I'm sure he is. You should send him a letter sometime."

I bit my lip. "I did send him a letter... but he hasn't replied yet."

The lady smiled again. "He'll reply, don't worry about it, Princess." She turned back to her book.

I walked past her desk, and down the aisles that were lined with bookshelves. Hyrule Castle had the biggest library in Hyrule, and it was also the place where I had found my secret path to the market. I turned a corner, finding a dead end with a painting of my father, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, hanging on the wall. I looked around, making sure no one was watching me, and then I pulled the painting off the wall, revealing a narrow hole for me to crawl through. I set the painting down, and then crawled into the hole, making sure I turned around to put the painting back on the wall to avoid suspicions. Luckily, this hole was big enough for me to turn around in.

When I was faced away from the hole, I began to crawl through the tunnel on my hands, elbows and knees. The tunnel was somewhat dark, and pretty dusty. It didn't last very long though, because after only a few minutes, I could see the light of the sun bursting from the other side.

I stepped out from the tunnel, landing directly in the alleyway of the market. Dogs were running through the street, their owners trying to catch them. The dogs that didn't have owners coming after them were strays. I walked down the alleyway, hoping that nobody would recognize me. Of course, I never stepped foot out of the castle, so it wasn't like anyone knew what I looked like. And besides, I was wearing a trench coat, and I wasn't wearing any of my dresses, just casual clothes I had kept for a normal day. And by normal, I mean completely like today.

I pulled out the note Yuuki and Vincent had sent to me as a letter.

_Zelda-chan!_

_It's been too long! Come visit us at the market cafe tomorrow afternoon!_

_-Vincent and Yuuki_

I folded it and put it back into my pocket. I had met Yuuki and Vincent at my public school, which surprisingly, I had persuaded Impa and the guards to let me go to. I didn't go very often, because I had so many things to attend to, so I only went a couple days a week, and sometimes the days were separated by months. Vincent was Yuuki's boyfriend, and I had become good friends with them because I was in every single one of their classes. They were both very different from the rest of the students too. Vincent's mother was a fairy, and his father was a Reaper, so he was a little... how you might say, _demented_. But he was a good kid, and he always knew how to make Yuuki and I laugh. Yuuki didn't like to pay much attention in class, and she believed in witchcraft and alchemy. She'd spend most of her time in class reading an alchemy book, or during lunch, she'd be drawing witchcraft signs on the cafeteria walls and the tables, which frankly, freaked a lot of the other students and teachers out.

When I reached the end of the alleyway, I looked to my left at the cafe that was set up close by. There were small tables with pretty chairs set up near the counter where you could place your order. Flowers were sitting in vases on the tables, and parasols were opened near some of the tables to shade from the sun. There were several people at the cafe, including Vincent and Yuuki.

I ran to the cafe, and sat next to them when I reached the table.

"Zelda-chan!" Yuuki screeched, her face lighting up with joy.

"What's up?" Vincent asked, fingering his sharp Reaper teeth in his mouth. He drooled.

"Not much. It was a bit tricky getting here on such short notice though," I replied, raising my eyebrow at Yuuki.

"Sorry," she giggled. "It's just, things aren't the same without you at the school, you know?"

"It's all... boring...," Vincent grumbled, and hit his head against the table. "The dang teachers keep giving us work... day after freakin' day... can't... stand it..."

"Poor Vincent," I teased, and patted his head. He lifted it, and smiled, revealing his rows of very sharp teeth.

"Don't tease me, fairy," he muttered, and stared at me with his red eyes. When I first met him, I believed that he was a demon because of his eyes, but it was just because of the cross between his parents. He had pupils, but the color of his irises were a menacing red. And because he knew that the first time I saw him scared me a little, he would glare at me to annoy me. But I always laughed along with his joke.

A waitress came by and set a glass of soda in front of Yuuki.

"Thank you," Yuuki said, and the waitress left. She took a sip from her drink, and then set her glass down. "So Zelda, has anything happened to you since the last time we saw you?"

"Actually, a lot has happened," I began. "I met a few Reapers, defeated a few bad guys, stuff like that."

Vincent perked his head up. "Reapers, huh? Did you see my old man?"

"Vincent!" Yuuki groaned. "Why would you ask a stupid question like that? Your dad is living in Kakariko! You visited him last week, remember?"

"Uh... oh yeah!" Vincent began to play with his teeth again. "Can't believe I forgot!" It was hard to make out what he was saying when he had his mouth open just so he could get his finger on his teeth.

Yuuki giggled. "What about that boy you used to always talk about? Link what's-his-face? Have you seen any trace of him?"

I blushed. "Link's on a journey right now," I sputtered. "I haven't seen him in over a year. It's too bad really..."

"Aw, I was enjoying listening to all the things you told me about him! You two seemed perfect for each other!" Yuuki brushed her black bangs out from her eyes, and smiled.

"What?" I yelled. "Yuuki-chan, don't say stuff like that!"

Vincent removed his finger from his teeth, and laughed. "Zelda, you're all red!"

I growled, and stood up from the table. "Is there any other thing you want to talk about? I don't have all the time in the world you know! I'm supposed to be in the library right now!"

"You know, they're calling for a storm tonight!" Vincent whispered, and licked his lips. He laughed an evil laugh. "Rain, thunder, lightning, and more importantly, the stray dogs that have to stay out in all of it! It will be my ultimate dinner!"

"Ugh!" Yuuki shrieked. "Vincent, you are disgusting! Quit joking around!" She stuck her tongue at him, and he took his fingers and messed up his silver hair.

"Care to join me in the storm?" Vincent asked me.

I sighed, and sat back down. That was one thing about Vincent that always brought up questions: why was he so obsessed with storms? Why, if Link were here, all we would have to do was get him to play the Song of Storms, and-

_Zelda, you're thinking about him again,_ I thought. _Get him out of your head, think of something else._

"Just think about it!" Vincent snickered. "Rain, rain, and more rain! It's going to be _awesome_! Come on, Yuuki, you're joining me tonight to watch the rain fall!"

"Sure, I don't mind," Yuuki replied. "What about you Zelda?"

They already knew my answer. "No thanks, I think I'll pass this time."

"But Zelda, think of the beauty of it all!" Vincent objected.

"Sorry, but I don't see any beauty in getting soaked to the bone."

"Aw, I bet you just don't wanna go cause you've got no one to go with..." He wrapped his arm around Yuuki.

I rolled my eyes at his remark. "Either way, I'm not going. What would I give for an excuse if the guards went looking for me and found me standing in the rain?"

"It's okay if you don't want to come along," Yuuki said, and took another sip from her soda.

"Thank you," I muttered. I leaned back against my chair. "By the way, how are things going on at school?"

"Boring, as usual," Vincent muttered. "Our math teacher is thinking of retiring soon, so we'll be getting a new one sometime. Maybe in a couple years. I hope he's like me."

"That's all? Well, I guess I shouldn't complain. At least it's peaceful." I stood up from the table again. "I should get going, the guards are probably wondering where I am."

"Come to school again sometime, okay Zelda?" Yuuki asked. "It's lonely without you!"

I nodded, and looked up at the clouds. It was probably the afternoon now, around three o'clock. Vincent was right about the storm; there were already dark clouds forming in the sky. I waved goodbye to Yuuki and Vincent, and left the cafe.

"I might as well go for a little walk," I said to myself, and began to walk down the alleyway, avoiding the secret passage. I didn't get out into the market very often, so I wanted to enjoy this day. I took in the scenery of the tall buildings towering above me, the sun shining off the rooftops, the dogs running through the streets. I always wished that I could be free, even just for one day. One day would be enough. But... I knew it was my responsibility to watch over Hyrule as it's princess. And I always had Vincent and Yuuki to help me along the way with their advice. And if I couldn't talk to them, I'd always be able to talk to Impa. She always knew what to say, even at the worst of times.

I kicked my toes against the pavement as I walked, and shoved my hands into my trench coat pockets. I looked up at the sky as I walked, looking at the butterflies that fluttered around, and the clouds moving across the sky. This was the same alleyway... the same one that Link and I had walked down a year before. The same alleyway where that man tried to kill Link. And the same alleyway where I had met Dex.

As I walked though, I felt my foot land on something hard.

I looked down, and lifted my foot. I bent down on my knees to examine the object. I picked it up.

It was a heart-shaped locket. It was gold, with little designs engraved on the front. It was being held by a black string.

I wiped the dirt off it, and opened it to see if anything was inside. A few tiny slips of paper fell out. I grabbed them, and peered at the tiny letters that were written on it.

I looked at the first paper.

_Hey Zero, you were right. Ichiru and I are enjoying this game of hide-and-seek. _

I looked at the second one.

_No problem Saru-kun. I'm glad that Ichiru-san is having fun._

I kept switching between the multiple sheets of paper.

_Then what do you say we raise the stakes Zero?_

_I like that idea... what are the rules this time?_

_I'm it, the 'fierce ogre', and you have to be the 'dark' that hides in the shadows. You have to hide in the human world. _

_Hmm... that sounds like fun... alright, let's play. You know what would be really fun? If my locket was picked up by a human..._

I swallowed. What the hell kind of notes were these? I found one more note inside the locket.

_That would be a fun game if it was picked up by a human... fun for you that is. And I can tell that you are basing this game of hide-and-seek around the guy I'm supposed to catch. That means he's part of this game too. But you know that if he befriends the 'dark' one, we'll both be screwed, so be careful, alright? _

_I should be saying that, Saru. You're such a traitor, you know that? But... if you want to befriend Nohansen Hyrule, that's all up to you. I'll be with whoever decides to pick up this locket. I'll be running from you, Saru... it's up to you to find me again. And then I'll tell you what I know. Until then, keep trying to find me. I'll watch as you cringe and scream as you helplessly try to find me..._

I wanted to tear the notes up into a million tiny pieces, but something made me stop. These notes were interesting, and by the way they were written, they were probably created by a being of darkness. But what really stumped me were the words that really jumped out at me. 'Fierce orgre' and 'dark'? I would have to figure those out later. And of course, out of curiosity, I kept the locket too. It was definitely connected with the notes and these two people.

Now I really wanted to make it back before it got dark. It was these sorts of things that made people want to bundle up in a corner and wait for the night to end. Almost like a horror story. But I wasn't the kind of person to fall for a horror story. I was the kind of person that was curious, and wanted to find adventure. Even if all it took was a locket and a few simple, or in this case, _otherworldly_ notes.

I began running in the other direction of the alleyway, trying to find the secret passage. As I ran though, I noticed it got darker. The clouds grew black over the sky, and rain began to fall. I could hear the faint sound of thunder roaring in the distance. Vincent would probably be enjoying this storm right now.

I kept my eyes on the walls as I ran, hoping to locate the secret passage that led back to the library. It was hard to tell where it was because it had gotten so dark out. People were locking up inside their homes, and stray dogs were seeking shelter underneath boxes or other peoples' porches. I pulled the hood of my trench coat over my head, protecting my hair from the rain. If I went back with my hair drenched, the guards would be furious.

I looked up at the black clouds. I had been hearing a strange noise for the past few minutes, which was starting to make me go a little nuts. It sounded almost like footsteps, but the person would have to be pretty small to have light footsteps like that. I turned around, hoping the source from the noise was there, but I didn't see anything. It was probably just a dog.

Then I heard someone's voice. Their words scared the living soul out of me.

"Boo."

I turned around.

I screamed at the person standing directly in front of me. I fell to the ground. I looked up at the girl who was smiling down at me.

"W-What are you!" I screamed. Whoever she was, she definitely wasn't human. She was wearing tight black pants, which had a lifeless black arrow cloth tail hanging off it, and a black shirt that had a hood that went over her orange colored hair. The shirt's sleeves were cut off at the shoulder, revealing her skinny arms, which were covered in strange black tattoos. She wasn't wearing any shoes, so I could see her bare feet. She pretty much looked like an average human.

That was until I saw the fangs. She grinned at me, her mouth filled with fangs that looked similar to Vincent's.

I backed up from her, using my hands to support myself as I crawled back. She laughed, almost as if she was amused from my actions.

"You fairies are so funny!" she snickered. She bent down on her knees, and began to crawl towards me as I backed away. The way she crawled almost reminded me of how a cat walked. She pointed at me with her frail little finger. "I'm glad my locket was picked up by you, it'll be fun to watch you!"

"What are you talking about?" I yelled. "Who are you?"

She stopped crawling, and sat down with her legs crossed. She held her hand at me. "My name's Zero! It'll be an honor being your partner!"

"What? Partner?"

She lowered her hand. "Well, you picked up my locket. Now I have to be your partner."

I swallowed. Was this what the notes were talking about? That meant that the locket was dropped recently... if it wasn't, somebody else would have picked it up by now.

"Wait a minute...," the girl began. "Are you... the one and only Princess Zelda Nohansen Hyrule?"

I really didn't want to answer that question, but she would probably find out sooner or later anyways. "Yeah, I am," I replied.

She laughed. "Goddess Din, I never thought I'd get a chance to actually meet you in person! Like I said before, my name's Zero, and I'm a Twili from the Twilight Realm! This is just great, now I'm watching over a Nohansen Hyrule just like Saru-kun!"

"Wait, do you mean Dark Realm?"

"No, the Twilight Realm. The Dark Realm is where the Reapers live."

I hesitantly crawled towards her. "Tell me, do you know a man named Link Nohansen Hyrule?" I couldn't believe I was actually talking to her on purpose. I mean, this girl was a Twili. Not the kind of creature I'd want to make contact with, unless of course, it was the Twilight Princess herself.

She rubbed her chin, and turned her eyes away from me. "Hmm... Link Nohansen Hyrule... I've heard of him from Saru-kun, but I've never actually met him. Actually, I think Saru's mission is to assassinate that boy..."

"_What!_" I screamed, my eyes wide.

Zero laughed again. "You should see the look on your face! Priceless! He's not going to kill Link, but he was told to do so! Saru is on your side... a bit. But why do you ask?"

I breathed heavily, my heart pounding. I was glad to hear that this Saru person was on my side, and that he wasn't going to kill Link, but Zero said that he was only on my side a bit... did that mean he would still kill Link if he got the chance?

"He's a friend of mine," I asnwered. "He went on a journey with four Reapers about a year ago... he travels a lot, so I never get a chance to see him, and their headquarters are in the Dark Realm..."

"Sorry, I would never have met him then," Zero sighed. "The Reapers are a totally different species than us. The Dark Realm is split in half: we live on one side, in the Twilight Realm, and the Reapers live on the other, in the Dark Realm. It's not because we're enemies or anything... but Reapers can erase us, which would upset the balance of darkness and light. Also, the Twili would never lay a hand on a human being, but the Reapers kill them for their own good."

"How did you get here?" I asked, changing the subject.

"The same way any person would travel through the worlds. The Mirror of Twilight."

I pulled the heart locket out from my trench coat pocket, and held it towards Zero. "So this is yours? Along with those creepy notes inside it?"

"Yeah, me and my friend Saru made them. We're actually playing hide-and-seek right now. I told him I would possess a human or a fairy, and then he would have to find me. I dropped the locket on purpose."

"Why would you drop it here on purpose?"

"I just said that. There are certain Twili born each year. They have the ability to possess humans. I was born as one of those Twili. Now I have to possess someone. So, I sealed a part of my soul inside that locket, and I dropped it here. Whoever picked it up would take my soul as theirs. I wanted to see what the person would do with it though. Most people would just throw the papers away and leave the locket for the owner to come back and pick it up. But you kept it, which was rather interesting."

"I was intrigued by the notes," I muttered. "I know about the Reapers, the Twili, and the Society that keeps the the Reapers together. I also know what their plan is. So, I figured that if I kept the notes, they might be a bit of use in the future."

"Smart princess... you're different from the one in the Twilight Realm. Of course, I bet you didn't expect to see me here, in front of you."

"I had a strong feeling I would see someone. The note said it would be a fun game if the locket was picked up by a human, which made me automatically assume that the original owner would come looking for it."

"Well, go ahead and keep it. You picked it up, so it's yours now. Which also means I'm going to have to follow you from now on."

"Why?" I asked, standing up from the ground because my clothes were getting a bit soaked from the rain on the ground.

"My soul is now bound with yours," Zero giggled, also standing up. "I'll show you what I mean when we get back to the castle. You should be leaving soon anyways, the guards are probably wondering where you are, right?"

"You practically read my mind." I stood up from the ground, and realized my hands were all covered in dirt. I wiped them against my trench coat, and stuffed them in my pockets to hide the remaining dirt. Zero stood up too.

"Wait, won't the guards notice you if you follow me?" I asked her.

"Nah, they won't be able to see me. Only the person who holds that locket can see me, so I'm safe until somebody else picks it up."

I nodded, and began to walk down the alleyway again, feeling my hands against the brick wall, trying to find the secret passage. My hands finally fell into a small opening. I smiled, and began to crawl through the hole, Zero following close behind. I could hear the rain hitting against the brick ground outside. I didn't exactly understand what Zero meant when she said I would understand back at the castle... I was still a bit confused about this soul thing.

When I hit a wall, I pushed the painting down, and stepped out into the library. I sighed in relief, happy that nobody had seen the painting go down. I stepped onto the rug, waited for Zero to jump out, and put the painting back on the wall.

"Wow, pretty cool sneaking method you've got here..." Zero snickered.

I ignored her, and lead her down the aisles in the library. The lady at the desk perked her head up.

"Ah, Zelda, how was your time here?" she asked. I was surprised she didn't ask where I was, but then again, she was probably too wrapped up in her book to check on me.

"It was great, thanks," I said quickly, and left the library. I ran to my room, ignoring the greetings from the guards as I ran by. When I was in my room, I locked the door. Zero sat down on my bed. Zero had proved one theory already: because I was the only one that picked up the locket, I was the only one that could see her.

"Okay, so you want me to tell you how this works?" she asked me the moment I finished locking the door.

"I would appreciate that a lot, thanks," I muttered.

"Alright, because you picked up the locket, my soul is now with yours. You can even see it when you look in the mirror."

I raised my eyebrow, and walked over to my nightstand, where my mirror was placed. I looked at my reflection carefully, and then immediately knew what Zero was talking about.

My eyes had changed.

My eyes were originally the color of crystal blue, but now the left one was a deep brown, almost red. My right eye was still the same color.

"Oh no..." I groaned. "Impa's not going to like this."

"Whoever this Impa is, she won't be able to see it. I can hide it, alright? But even if I hide it, it will still be visible if you look in a mirror or any form of reflective material. Sorry for causing you this trouble... but I had to do it eventually. When a human from the Realm of Light touches the object that a soul transfer Twili uses, the soul is transferred over to the person who touched it. And because my soul is inside yours now, you can see me through your left eye."

"Well, that's just great!" I said sarcastically.

"Look on the bright side, at least you have some form of defense."

I gave her a funny look. "What?"

"Sure, I know how to fight, so you won't have to worry about getting hurt! Neat, huh?"

I groaned. There was nothing neat about having a Twili girl attached to my soul through a heart locket.


	35. The Demon Warning

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 35: The Demon Warning**

The three remaining Reapers and I leaped through the trees of the thick forest, the sun setting in the horizon. We had left two hours ago, and we were still searching for Mitsuhiro, the leader of the Time Keepers. All we had was his headband, the 'x'-shaped cut piercing through the Triforce on the metal. My guess was that someone had ambushed him, and had cut through the Triforce as a warning to us. But these predictions were just argued from the words that Shuto had said.

_"The Society had nothing to do with it."_

If it wasn't the Society, then who could it possibly be? And how did Shuto know that it wasn't the Society? Was it because the Society didn't bother to attack Shuto too?

Yashiro leaped past me, leaving me the last in the line of Reapers running through the trees. Did I just say, 'last in the line of Reapers'? Working with the group of Reapers was surely starting to affect me... did I think thatI was a Reaper? I wanted to go to Hyrule now...

Uzuki stopped, and jumped down from the trees, landing on the ground below us. She was the one in front of us (because with Mitsuhiro gone, she was the temporary leader of the Time Keepers), so when she jumped off the trees, we had no choice but to follow.

"What is it Uzuki-senpai?" Yashiro asked. She had been calling Uzuki by the name of 'senpai' ever since Uzuki took up the position as leader until we found Mitsuhiro. She didn't once say the word 'chan'. Even Uzuki didn't say 'Yashiro-chan' anymore. Instead, she'd say 'Yashiro-san'.

Uzuki ran to one of the bases of the trees. There was a white piece of paper attached to it. Uzuki ripped it off, and looked at what was drawn on it. She cringed, and fell to her knees.

"Y-You're... you're trying to scare me away, aren't you Mitsuhiro!" she hissed to herself. She crumpled up the sheet of paper, and threw it to the ground. "I can't believe... you would do something like that! Don't think I can't find you now! You wanna hide? Fine, hide! You've given yourself away with this horrific message!" She crushed the paper underneath her foot, and then she left us in a hurry.

"Wow, she's pissed now..." Yashiro mumbled.

"What's got her so upset?" Shuto asked as he bent down to grab the piece of paper. He flattened it out again, just enough so he could see the drawing and the words written down. He raised his eyebrows at it, and then passed it to Yashiro. "Do you have any idea what this means?" he asked her.

Yashiro looked at it carefully, and then widened her eyes. "That bastard... he wouldn't do such a thing..." She ripped the piece of paper into tiny pieces.

"Hey, maybe I wanted to look at it too!" I yelled. Yashiro glared at me, grabbing the collar of my shirt.

"You don't _ever_ want to be horrified by what Mitsuhiro has written down on that sheet of paper. If you don't want to die, I suggest you head back to the house now."

"Yashiro, I need to help Uzuki find Mitsuhiro!" I growled, knowing that I had as much right as anyone else to help find our leader.

Yashiro set me back down, and crossed her arms, giving me a cruel look. "Suit yourself, but if you can't handle what happens next, don't come crying to me." She headed into the direction Uzuki was walking.

"Shuto, what's she talking about?" I asked.

Shuto began to walk after Yashiro. "I don't know. I'm guessing that this is a secret kept between those three... Mitsuhiro, Uzuki and Yashiro. They know something that we don't... and it's up to us to find out. Come on, let's go. Whatever horror is next, we can both face it, because I haven't seen it either."

I followed Shuto through the forest as we walked behind Yashiro and Uzuki, our hearts pounding from whatever horror they spoke of.

Uzuki walked across the leaf-covered ground, her hands closed into fists so tight that her fingernails were causing her hands to bleed. She still couldn't believe that Mitsuhiro would leave a note like that... she had hoped she would never see a drawing like that again since the time he drew it in their English class, back when they were humans.

_There has got to be a reason for this_, she thought. _Is he trying to go after the Society himself? Either those five figures meant the first five members of the Society... or it meant us._

And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the image of the drawing out of her head. The drawing... of all of the Time Keepers, including Mitsuhiro, being annihilated by a strange being. The strange being known as the 'Kyodai no Akuma': the Monstrous Demon.

And Mitsuhiro was the Kyodai no Akuma.

Uzuki had known this all along, ever since they had both been reborn as Reapers. Uzuki and Mitsuhiro had been reborn in pairs: they both died the same death, they both knew each other as humans, and they both wanted revenge against the same person. This was a somewhat rare thing to see, but it was possible for something like it to happen. And Mitsuhiro hadn't just been reborn as a regular Reaper; he had abilities that were only infused in a single Reaper every hundred years or so. It was like how one boy was born in the Gerudo tribe every one hundred years. The Society wanted Mitsuhiro to join their organization the moment they laid eyes on him, but it was because of Shuto, Uzuki and Yashiro that he didn't.

What stumped Uzuki was that she and Mitsuhiro had both died the same death... and yet she couldn't remember how she died! If Mitsuhiro died in a car accident in the streets of Hyrule... she must have been there too. As she walked ahead of the group, she tried to piece together her lost memories, but it was no use. Every time she thought she was onto something, her thoughts would end in blackness, like her memories had been sucked into a black hole.

Then she remembered the drawing again. The drawing that would surely give her nightmares until she sorted out the problem between Mitsuhiro and them. But if Mitsuhiro was the one that drew the message, then surely he was telling her that he would also die because of his awakening. So why hadn't Mitsuhiro told her about it earlier? She knew more than anyone that Mitsuhiro always had a hard time controlling his demon abilities, and he was the only person that she knew of that had that problem.

Until she met Link.

Did this mean that this would eventually happen to Link too?

_No_, she thought. _No, I can't let that happen! I'm not going to let Mitsuhiro lose control and kill himself! He'll have to go through all of us if he wants to kill himself! _

But then she remembered the picture of all five of them dead, including Mitsuhiro. That was his plan; he knew that Uzuki would try to stop him, along with the rest of the Time Keepers. That's why he had killed them in the drawing. Before he would die, he would kill the rest of the Time Keepers first. But was this really Mitsuhiro, or was it Kyodai no Akuma speaking for him? The demon inside of Mitsuhiro... was the same as Dex and the Deity inside of Link. The demon spoke to Mitsuhiro, told him things that would eventually make him go insane... it was the nightmares. All those nightmares that Mitsuhiro had were the messages that the Kyodai no Akuma was telling him.

Uzuki stopped for a second, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes had changed to the color of red. Even if she had to release all of her powers to stop him... she wouldn't let him hurt anybody.

And then she remembered the words written down next to the drawing.

_"Come after me at your own risk... but he'll kill you. I want to keep you safe so that he won't hurt you... so please, stay away..."_

This reminded Uzuki a lot of the horror movies that Mitsuhiro had shown her, and the photographs of the ghosts that used to haunt people until they died. Uzuki wasn't allowed to watch horror movies... they made her as paranoid as a person in an insane asylum, or a mental institution.But now she found herself in a horror scene. Mitsuhiro's plan of scaring her away nearly worked. Uzuki couldn't stand drawings like that, even if she had a bunch of them hanging on her wall. What was worse was that the drawing may not have even been drawn by Mitsuhiro. But she was confident that it was.

She glanced back to see Yashiro, Link and Shuto far behind them. She looked forward again, and continued to walk.

"I know where you are Mitsuhiro... I'll find you. And when I do, I'll kill him! I won't let the Kyodai no Akuma do this to you anymore!_ I'll kill him_!" Uzuki sprouted her black Reaper wings, and flew off through the forest, leaving behind the other three Time Keepers.

"Huh! Where'd she go?" Yashiro yelled.

I looked up to the skies to see black wings soaring ahead of us. "There she is!" I exclaimed, pointing at the tiny figure. We all began to run after her, and I was eventually picked up by Yashiro and carried through the skies as she flew with her Reaper wings. Shuto flew behind us as we followed Uzuki through the air. I was kind of wishing that I could fly too, but instead, I was left to stare down below us as Yashiro limply held my torso, my arms and legs hanging down towards the ground. I started to feel dizzy as we got higher and higher, but I managed to keep this dizziness down by closing my eyes. It felt amazing at the same time though, flying through the sky. I felt like Navi the fairy right now. The only problem was that it was starting to rain extremely hard, so the rain was blowing into my face.

We continued to chase after Uzuki, and we soon found ourselves over a large meadow. Uzuki had already landed, and she was standing alone in the middle of the field. Yashiro lowered down towards the ground, and set me back down. We ran towards Uzuki, and I noticed that she was shaking, like she was scared.

"Uzuki, what's wrong?" Yashiro yelled as she approached her friend.

Uzuki turned, her eyes lifeless. "H-He's smart..." she said in a lifeless voice.

Yashiro grabbed Uzuki's shoulders, and glared at her. "Uzuki, what happened?"

"Get out of here... please, for your own sake... h-he's here..."

"Who's here?"

"Tell me Yashiro... do you remember those videos we watched with Mitsuhiro and Shuto in the eighth grade? The ones that made me paranoid for two weeks?"

Yashiro tilted her head in wonder.

"He's trying to scare me away... so he's summoned the creature from that video to scare me off..."

I ran up to Uzuki, wondering what in the world she was talking about.

"Uzuki, what are you talking about?" I screamed. I was starting to get a little scared by her words.

Uzuki's eye twitched, and she began to scan the entire area. "He's managed to create more than one..."

"Yashiro, what is she talking about!" I yelled at Yashiro. She was also looking around the area. I followed the gaze, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't see anything either Link," Yashiro muttered. "Mitsuhiro has created this illusion all for Uzuki. It's to scare her off. I know exactly what Mitsuhiro has created."

"What is it?"

She mouthed words, but because I couldn't read lips, I didn't know what she said.

"Link, get her out of here!" Yashiro yelled, and threw Uzuki into my arms. "It's not safe for her here!"

"I don't understand!" I argued.

"Only Uzuki can see the person haunting this area! If you don't get her out of here, she'll surely be scared away!"

"Yashiro... get him away from me!" Uzuki screamed at the top of her lungs. She wiggled out of my arms and began running, but she quickly turned back around, screaming as she ran. The more she ran, the more she turned around to head in the other direction. She had literally gone off the deep end.

"Just close your eyes Uzuki!" Yashiro yelled at her.

Uzuki stopped, and closed her eyes. "I-It's not working! He's invading my mind!" She began screaming like an insane person.

"Get her out of here Shuto!" Yashiro yelled, grabbing Uzuki and throwing her towards Shuto this time. Shuto quickly turned around and began running the other direction from where we had arrived. Uzuki began screaming even louder.

"No, he's over there!" she shrieked, tears starting to form in her black eyes. "Shuto, go the other way!" She began pounding on his back with her fists, demanding him to let her go. I had never seen Uzuki in such a state before. She was so _scared, _and I didn't even know what it was that was scaring her. Even as Shuto left the meadow, it almost sounded like her screaming was getting louder and louder, even after she was gone.

"Yashiro, what was that?" I asked after I couldn't hear Uzuki's screams anymore.

Yashiro looked around the area. "It won't be long before he decides to haunt us too..." she muttered, so low that I could barely hear her words. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Link, we have to get out of here. I'll contact Shuto later and get him to bring Uzuki back. Besides, the haunting can't wait here forever... Mitsuhiro will give up eventually..."

"What haunting? What are you talking about?"

Yashiro sighed, and looked up to the sky. "Back in the eighth grade, when I was alive, on my fourteenth birthday... I invited my closest friends up to my house for a birthday party. This included Uzuki, Mitsuhiro, and even my older brother. Anyways, Mitsuhiro decided to show us these videos... they were of a person who was constantly haunted by a strange man... I wasn't scared, but... let's just say they made Uzuki go a bit paranoid. Even my brother was scared, and he's in his twenties now. Uzuki continued her paranoia for a few weeks; she didn't go outside, she ran up staircases as fast as she could at nighttime, and if she was going to her bedroom, she would check every other room first. Heck, she began picking up sounds that she wouldn't normally pay attention to! Sure, the paranoia started to end after a while, but even at night she doesn't trust herself. That's why she sleeps with bandages around her eyes: she doesn't want to have to see the darkness of her room."

I raised my eyebrows, thinking that this was a little farfetched. "Then why couldn't we see it?" I asked.

"Because Mitsuhiro created this creature from the contrast of light and darkness, and he assigned it specifically so that only Uzuki could see it. I don't know how he managed to do it, but he did it. That's why I had to get Uzuki out of here."

I nodded, and looked around one last time. Then I noticed that if I focused carefully enough, I could see someone staring at us from the forest. It was hard to make out... I could really only see the arms. But the arms looked so much like tree branches that it was hard to tell if they really were arms or not.

"Yashiro, do you see that?" I asked, pointing to where I could see the obscured person.

Yashiro followed my gaze, and then widened her eyes. "Yes, I can see it. Come on Link, we can't stay here. We have to leave. And listen to me right now... because Uzuki is gone, I'm going to take up the position of being the leader. Please, listen to me so that we can finish this mission."

I blinked at her. Yashiro had suddenly changed... she didn't talk with such an aggressive tone anymore. Instead, she sounded more like a leader, like Mitsuhiro almost.

Yashiro spread out her black wings again, and picked me up in the same way she had done before. We flew out of the meadow, heading in the opposite direction that Shuto had carried Uzuki off too.

_Uzuki, Shuto_... I thought. _You'd better catch up to us... _

Shuto set Uzuki down at the table, and passed her a glass of water. She drank it down in one gulp, and then set it down hard against the table. She was shaking a lot, her eyes were red from crying so hard, and her voice was sore from screaming so loud.

"Alright, now just calm down Uzuki," Shuto said softly. "It was just an illusion created by Mitsuhiro to scare you off. It wasn't real..."

Uzuki took a few deep breaths, and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm never going to be able to sleep again, you know that Shuto?" Uzuki laughed. "I can't believe that Mitsuhiro would go to such lengths as using light and darkness to contrast the character from those horror videos we used to love watching so much..." She smiled, and stood up from the chair. "We should go now, Shuto. Link obviously can't handle Mitsuhiro or the Kyodai no Akuma by himself."

"The Kyo what?" Shuto asked, confused by her words.

"It's... nothing." Uzuki smiled, and grabbed one of her sketchpads from the table. She had left it behind because she didn't expect such a fight to arrive. She also grabbed her scythe (because surprisingly, she had left that behind too). And before she left the house, she grabbed a few bandages. She wrapped them around her arms and hands first, and then after that, she wrapped one white cloth around her eyes like a blindfold.

"I want to see Mitsuhiro scare me off now," Uzuki growled, and laughed as she turned towards the door, fluently grabbing the doorknob and walking down the stairs and towards the forest, as quickly as if she wasn't wearing a blindfold. Shuto followed her, grabbing his flute on the way out, along with Yashiro's sword and kunai gun. He knew that the Reapers would have to start taking their weapons everywhere with them... Link always did, no matter what the situation.

He followed Uzuki as they ran through the thick forest. Surely, Uzuki's vision was better with the blindfold, because she didn't make one mistake. In fact, she was faster than before; it was hard for even Shuto to keep up.

_Try and scare me off, Mitsuhiro_, Uzuki thought. _I won't stop until I get rid of the Kyodai no Akuma!_

I sat down in the grass, resting my back against a tree. Yashiro sat above me on a tree branch, eating from a bag of quesadilla chips.

"Man, I really wish I brought my weapons..." Yashiro muttered. "You're the only one that brought your weapons, Link."

"That's your own fault, Yashiro," I said, biting into an apple I had found on one of the trees. I heard a branch snap, and immediately jumped up to examine the source.

A squirrel.

_Gee, way to freak out Link_, I thought, annoyed from my actions. But because of the position we were in, we had every right to be anxious or afraid. I heard another branch snap. Even though I figured it was another or possibly the same squirrel, I jumped up anyways to see Uzuki and Shuto. They were carrying their weapons; Yashiro's too. But... why was Uzuki wearing a blindfold?

"Uzuki, you made it!" Yashiro said, jumping down from the tree to greet her friend. She hugged her tight. "Good job, you made it through the meadow."

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Shuto asked in a whiny tone. "I had to carry _your_ weapons!"

"Sorry Shuto, but my hugs are special. I can't just pass them out like candy."

Shuto rolled his eyes, and passed Yashiro's sword and kunai gun back to her.

"Fine, I guess I should thank you for bringing me my weapons." Yashiro flicked Shuto's forehead. "Good job, squirt." She balanced the sword against her right shoulder and put the kunai gun in her left hand.

"Where to now?" I asked Uzuki. I decided to leave the blindfold question for later.

"Mitsuhiro obviously doesn't want us to find him..." Uzuki muttered. "But I have a pretty good idea of where he might be."

"Then lead us there, Uzuki," I said.

Uzuki turned towards me. "I'm not the leader right now Link. Because of my weakness to Mitsuhiro's illusions, I can't be of good use as a leader." She pointed at me. "It's up to you, Link. You're the only one that can stop Mitsuhiro. Maybe not Mitsuhiro, but maybe the Kyodai no Akuma; the Monstrous Demon that's possessing him.

I swallowed, and looked down to my feet. "You want me... to lead the Time Keepers on this mission?"

"Yes."

I looked back up at Uzuki with determined eyes, and nodded. I pulled out Mitsuhiro's abandoned headband, clenched the metal part with my fingers.

"So where is he?" I asked Uzuki, keeping my gaze on the crossed out Triforce.

"He's... at the place where the Time Keepers first met. Outside the Mirror Sanctuary."

I looked up, and saw the tower of the Mirror Sanctuary just a bit to the northwest (or the southwest; it was really hard to tell out here.). At least we were heading in the right direction. The only problem with going to the Mirror Sanctuary was that there was a high chance Dex would be there. Whenever I went out on training exercises with the others, I would often see him staring up at the twilight-stained sky from the tower. I was hoping that I wouldn't run into him, especially at a time like this when Mitsuhiro's inner demon was about to be released. And I knew that the Kyodai no Akuma was possibly stronger than Dex. I just had to hope that we didn't run into him.

Spoke too soon.

In fact, the moment we arrived, Dex seemed to be waiting for us at the top of the tower. He seemed surprised to see us, but he also seemed relieved at the same time. Relieved, to see me? Yeah right.

Dex leaped off the tower and landed before us, his gaze cold and cruel.

"What business do you have here?" he asked in a sharp voice. "Who are you people?"

Did he not recognize me? Then again, it had been nearly two years since he last saw me; I had grown a lot since then.

"Please tell me if there is a man here by the name of Mitsuhiro," Uzuki demanded.

"Mitsuhiro? Listen, I've got enough trouble as it is. I've got some demon causing trouble out in the field, so I don't need you people causing trouble for me too."

"That's Mitsuhiro!" I exclaimed.

He tilted his head at me. "Link? Is that you?"

"Uh, well..."  
"Wow, you sure have changed. Your friends have changed too. But are you saying that weirdo out back is one of your friends?"

"Y-Yeah... we're trying to stop him. What's he doing?"

"Just acting like a complete idiot. Trust me though, the guy is strong. I tried to get him out of here, but before I could do anything else, the guy nearly broke my neck! He's got some serious problems..."

I raised my eyebrow at Dex. "Uh, Dex, why are you acting like this? Shouldn't you be trying to kill me right now?"

He shook his head. "There's no point right now. You're still a weakling. The only way to get stronger is to fight people stronger than you. If you want to challenge that monster, go ahead, but don't come crying to me."

Shuto stepped forward. "I'll fight him first, Link. I have a technique that I want to test out."

"Are you sure, Shuto?" I asked worriedly. "This is Mitsuhiro, and he's awakened as the Kyodai no Akuma... I don't think you stand much of a chance..."

Shuto grinned a devious grin. "Just sit back and watch, Link. I'll show you what I've learned in the time you were gone. Besides, I'm pissed at this monster for trying to take away Mitsuhiro. The Kyodai no Akuma won't harm our leader, even if he has to kill me first!"

Shuto gave us a thumbs-up, and approached the demon standing in the horizon.


	36. First Battle!

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 36: First Battle! Shuto Unleashes His New Berserker Ability!**

I've regretted a lot of things.

But right now, I'm regretting this fight. Maybe... I should have let Yashiro fight instead? But all I've been doing is waiting on the sidelines. I was the one that founded the Time Keepers, right? If that's the case, then I should do everything in my power to save my leader!

I had been saving this ability for an emergency, and this counted as an emergency to me. My brother Jun... he fights with the same thing I do. He can use sound distortion. Believe it or not, we were both in band class as humans. He had graduated quite a while before I died, but he ended up dying only a few years after he graduated. And I... I didn't even get to graduate from school. I was in the ninth grade when I died from a rare sickness. Even now I don't know what it was.

That's another thing that I've regretted.

Maybe... if I hadn't been sick, I may have been able to save Yashiro from getting shot down by that serial killer that had been striking terror into the people of Hyrule all those years ago. That man is still alive too.

And maybe... if I hadn't been sick, I would have been able to stop Mitsuhiro from crossing the street that day, and he wouldn't have gotten hit by that car.

But how would I save Uzuki? None of us knew how she died... I asked her what it was like not to remember anything once, and she said it was the worst thing ever. It was like falling, and you don't remember getting up. All you remember is opening your eyes. The time between the moment you fell down and the moment you got up is just black.

So, there's a lot of stuff I've regretted. I'm not going to let this fight between me and Mitsuhiro be one. I _will_ defeat him. And I've got a secret weapon. It's similar to Jun's sound distortion. You see, Jun doesn't transfer his sound distortion through an instrument like I do. Instead, he can somehow blow sound waves from the palms of his hands. So obviously, he's quite a bit stronger than I am. But I've managed to pick up and maybe even _enhance_ some of his tricks, so I'm hoping I can become stronger than him. And I know I will be able to defeat Mitsuhiro... no, the Kyodai no Akuma too. All I have to do is utilize my new attack before he kills me.

I thought about all this as I approached Mitsuhiro. He didn't look much different, but I couldn't see his face because his back was facing towards me. But the way he was standing told me that he had changed. He was hunched over, with his head and shoulders down. His knees were bent, and his hands were stuffed into his pockets. But as I got closer, I also noticed that the markings on his arm from the seal that Uzuki had placed on him had grown larger. His hair had changed too; it was still black, but there were strange silver markings streaked through the black strands of hair. But what else had changed?

When I was only a few feet away from, I stopped, trying to prevent myself from going any further. Mitsuhiro lifted his head, and turned around to face me.

It was then that I had seen what a monster he had become.

His eyes were pure black, like Dex's, but they didn't have any pupils at all. They were just black. And painted from the bottom of his eyelids to the end of his jaw were black lines; one line for each eye. He licked his lips, his long tongue making him look more and more like a serpent. This was clearly not Mitsuhiro anymore. This was the Kyodai no Akuma.

But how much of the Kyodai no Akuma was it? Mitsuhiro hadn't completely changed; his hair was the same, and if you didn't pay much attention to his black hole eyes and long tongue and monstrous fangs, his face was still the same. But no matter how much he changed, I knew he was still Mitsuhiro on the inside. We just had to rip the Kyodai no Akuma out.

Easier said then done.

I prepared my fists, ready for when Mitsuhiro would attack me. He simply smiled, but I could see every sharp fang in his mouth, which caused me to shudder a bit. But I had to keep my guard up, otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance.

Mitsuhiro stretched out his right arm, and from his skin grew black metal, forming a disfigured machine. It looked just like his old white Time Distorter, only the metal was twisted, almost like it had been melted and reshaped. He stretched out his left arm, and a black katana appeared in his hand, the handle also deformed like the Time Distorter. Mitsuhiro circled around me, licking his lips as he walked. I watched him with determination in my eyes as a clutched a shuriken from my holster. In one swift movement, he attacked me, and a dodged, throwing a shuriken at him. He blocked it with the blade of his sword, and grinned at me with his demon grin.

I gripped my flute, and pulled it out from the strap on my back. I held it in my left hand as I pulled another shuriken from the holster on my belt. I threw the shuriken at him, distracting him, and then I brought the flute mouthpiece to my mouth, blowing a shrill tune at him. Mitsuhiro fell to his knees, but was back up again in a second, charging at me with his fingers outspread, his fingernails pointed like claws. He hissed at me, and I backed away, creating even higher notes with my flute. I took another breath, and played the highest note I knew. Mitsuhiro fell to the ground, clutching his ears to keep the terrible sound out. Even I wouldn't be able to stand up much longer; I never used the highest note on my flute. The sound was so high that it would paralyze, no, it would _kill_ the victim. And because I never used it, I wasn't used to it, and my ears hadn't quite fully adapted yet. I began taking deep breaths so that I could get rid of the terrible sound that was trapped in my head.

Mitsuhiro was healing quickly though, and it was barely a minute before he managed to get back up to his feet.

"You're... stronger than I thought..." I mumbled as I put my flute away. "But of course, you _are_ Mitsuhiro... you were always the strongest one of all of us." I took out multiple white bandages and wrapped them around my hands, preparing myself for hand-to-hand combat. Mitsuhiro smiled, as if he was satisfied by my actions, and he put his katana and Time Distorter away. He snapped his neck, and glared at me with his black hole eyes as he licked his lips again.

I traced my finger across the cutout Triforce in the metal on my belt, the Time Keepers' headband. Link had Mitsuhiro's headband... I wanted to see that headband on Mitsuhiro's arm again, even if it meant my life!

Mitsuhiro charged at me again, his fingers outspread like he was some wild animal. He punched and clawed at me, but I blocked and dodged all of his attacks, countering them with my own. And every time I attacked him, he disappeared in a flash, attacking me by clawing at my skin. I ended up being covered in scratches and cuts, blood running down my arms and face. But I wasn't done yet; I had only been fighting him for nearly twenty minutes! I wasn't going to go down after only twenty minutes!

I continued to punch at him, landing a few hits but realizing that they didn't do much damage. His attacks were really wearing me down though, and I knew that if this pattern continued, I wouldn't last much longer. I had barely damaged him at all, and he was still fighting me with full force. I had to conserve my energy so that I could use my new skill that I had developed. I wanted to save it though, because I knew I could only use it once during this battle. I continued to fight him, wondering how much longer I could last. I could see Link, Uzuki, Yashiro and the so-called Dex watching me fight Mitsuhiro from the sidelines. It was funny... I knew Link so well, but I had never actually seen Dex. I was sure that Uzuki, Yashiro or Mitsuhiro hadn't seen him yet either. When Mitsuhiro was in this form though, he looked even more demonic than Dex.

Mitsuhiro blocked my next punch, and twisted my arm so hard that I was sure he would have broken my arm if I had given him the chance. But before I gave him that chance, I struck him in the stomach with one of the kunais I kept hidden under my shirt sleeve. He fell back, releasing my arm and kicking me to the ground. I watched as he pulled the kunai from his skin, and then I saw the blood underneath me. I was really beaten up badly... now was the time to use my new ability.

I jumped up from the grass, and with a look in my now demon red eyes as sharp as the Kyodai no Akuma's, I stretched my arms out, and from my back grew metal. It covered over my arms, leaving my shoulders, wrists and hands bare. The machines on my arms had a few large holes circling the metal, which was the main point of my weapon. I lowered my arms, and waited for Mitsuhiro to charge at me again.

_Come at me, you damn bastard,_ I thought furiously, waiting for him to strike. When Mitsuhiro had finally recovered from the strike to his stomach, he lunged at me with claws in front of him, and before he got to close, I raised my arms again, releasing monstrous sound waves from the machines on my arms. The sound waves blew Mitsuhiro back onto the ground. My flute didn't work... but these machines produced sound waves that were hundreds of times stronger than my flute. This would definitely take Mitsuhiro down.

Mitsuhiro jumped back up from the ground, and charged at me again, catching me off guard and attempting to punch at me. Before he struck me, I jumped into the air, and blew the sound waves down towards him, pushing him down into the earth. The ground split around him, and he fell down into the cracks, disappearing into the ground. I landed back on the ground, making sure my weapons were ready if he were to attack again. I waited, but he never arose. Where did he go?

Then, like lava erupting from a volcano, he flew up from underneath the depths of the earth, his Reaper wings spread and his temper at his limit. He drew his katana again, leaving his Time Distorter unequipped, and flew at me. I readied my arms again, and launched another sound wave. But before I could blink, he wasn't in front of me anymore. He was _behind_ me, and before I realized it, he had blown his katana straight through my back. I could see the blade piercing through my body, and where it had come out through my torso at the other end. I was in too much shock to exactly realized what had happened, but I already knew I was done for. I heard the others scream as they watched me fall to my knees when Mitsuhiro ripped the blade from my body. I fell onto my stomach, a pool of blood beneath me, and waited for him to finish me off. No... he had already done that. This was my end... I was going to die right here. Even though Reapers could only be killed with light, they could also be killed by their fellow comrades; in other words, other Reapers. And even if this wasn't true, Mitsuhiro would have killed me anywhere, because it wasn't him who was killing me: it was the Kyodai no Akuma.

But I knew there was only one other demon who could kill... no, I should say, 'stop' Mitsuhiro, and that was Link. Link had a double demon on his side: Dex and the Deity. What would it be like if Dex and the Deity worked together? It would truly be an unstoppable force. But Link could barely control Dex... he would never be able to control both Dex and the Deity at the same time.

I looked up at Uzuki, Link and Yashiro. They were running towards me, but would they be able to help me without Mitsuhiro getting in the way?

"Link, help me!" Uzuki yelled as she began to pull me up from the ground. Mitsuhiro seemed to be staying away... but I considered this a good thing. But I felt so weak not being able to defeat Mitsuhiro. Even if he was the strongest in our group, that didn't make any difference. I was unable to defeat him, even with my new power. I felt so pathetic... I felt like I deserved to just lay there and rot, until I died.

That was until I saw Yashiro's expression. Her eyes were red, like she had been crying, and she looked so worried... then I realized how important I was to the group, to my friends. I couldn't just give up after one battle, especially after a battle against a demon like the Kyodai no Akuma. I guess from the beginning I knew in my heart that I wouldn't win against him. But it was a good try.

I twisted my head around so I could see Mitsuhiro. He was gone. It was already hard enough to find him the first time; it was thanks to Uzuki that we had found him. But where in the world would he be now? Even as the group fixed me up with bandages and red potions, I still couldn't shake this bad feeling...

**An Interlude**

Mitsuhiro stopped next to a tree, still clutching the wound on his stomach where Shuto had struck him with the kunai.

_You're so pathetic, _the Kyodai no Akuma screamed inside his mind. _Why didn't you finish off that little brat when you had the chance?_

Mitsuhiro gritted his teeth as he sat down next to the tree.

_Stand up, idiot! Don't be as pathetic as those Reapers!_

"Shut up," Mitsuhiro hissed, finally coming back to his senses. "Why do you torment me?"

_I'm a part of you. No... I am you. And you are me. We are the same person._

"We're not even close to being the same person," Mitsuhiro growled. "You're a monster. You hurt Shuto. And I bet you won't take any hesitations to hurt the others too."

_You're a smart kid. But you should be smart enough to know that they're just holding you back. You have so much power... they are just specks of dust compared to you. Why can't you understand that Mitsuhiro? Why can't you accept the fact that you can be so much more than just a member of their measly group? You know that it will only take three seconds for the Society to squish them like bugs._

"You don't know them like I do..." Mitsuhiro hissed.

Sure I do. Because I've been with them since the beginning Mitsuhiro. Ever since you were reborn as a Reaper. Ever since you teamed up with those idiots at the Mirror Sanctuary.

"If they're so weak, then how come they've been able to survive this long?" Mitsuhiro screamed. "You said that it would only take three seconds for the Society to kill them! They've been surviving for four years now! And I know that they'll be able to stop the Society, and Ganondorf if he is every revived!"

Mitsuhiro's shadow grew out from underneath him, and from the shadow formed a strange shadowy figure, his eyes glowing red orbs. He was carrying a black sword that had drops of twilight falling from it. The figure was just a giant shadow.

The shadow moved forward, and grabbed Mitsuhiro's shirt collar. _You are nothing without me, Mitsuhiro, _he snickered, baring black fangs from his twilight mouth. _Face it, you did half of those things on your own. You warned Uzuki with those drawings. You ran from them. You crossed out the Triforce on your headband with your kunai. You did all of those things. Admit it Mitsuhiro... you don't want to be a member of their group anymore! You're not running from me... you're running from them!_

Mitsuhiro, frustrated from the demon's terrible words, tried to punch him, but the figure disappeared into a pool of darkness, like he had jumped through an extremely deep puddle. The dark puddle moved beneath Mitsuhiro's feet and behind him, where the figure formed himself as a person again and kicked Mitsuhiro to the ground. Mitsuhiro landed on his hands and knees, not punching back because he knew it was futile to do so. As long as the Kyodai no Akuma was a part of him... he would never be able to hurt him.

The Kyodai no Akuma circled Mitsuhiro, holding his black sword to him so he wouldn't make any sudden movements without getting sliced to bits first.

_Tell me Mitsuhiro... what do you want to do? Do you want to go back and rejoin those idiots, where you'll be the leader of their pathetic group... or do you want to run? Of course, if you try and go back, either I will stop you, or you will stop yourself because you don't want me to hurt your friends. And you already know what happens when I try and stop you._

Mitsuhiro remembered back to when he had struck Shuto with his katana... which made him really sick to his stomach. Had he killed his friend? This demon was driving him crazy; it had been driving him crazy ever since he had been possessed and put under its control when he was first reborn as a Reaper. No matter how hard he tried, he had never been able to control it. Even Link was better at controlling his inner demon better than he was able to control the Kyodai no Akuma. It made him feel so weak... and when the Kyodai no Akuma starting playing his mind tricks on him, it just made him even more paranoid.

_Well?_

Mitsuhiro looked up at the demon, who was smirking at him now.

"Well what?" Mitsuhiro snapped.

_Are you going to return to the Time Keepers the way you are now? They probably hate you now for betraying them... Uzuki and Yashiro have probably already caught on to the fact that you're just as evil as the Society..._

"What's my second choice?"

_You can keep running. You can run from them, from your past._

"And what's the point of that?"

_There is none. It's just a question. You can either live with those Time Keepers, and have to live with the burden you've placed on them, or you can run, and forget all the bad things you've ever done. You can be free... free to become as strong as you please. Maybe you'll even be able to join the Society like before. Of course, they probably wouldn't like you as much as before, but I'm sure they'd still be able to take you in. _

Mitsuhiro cursed at that idea. But could he really return to the Time Keepers the way he was now?

_Just food for thought. You have as much time as you want to decide. But just remember, I'll always be here, watching you. You can't get rid of me. So, you may have all the time in the world, but eventually my presence will drive you to paranoia, and you may end up killing yourself in the end. Again, just food for thought. I hope you have a fun time deciding. _

And at that last sentence, the Kyodai no Akuma disappeared back into Mitsuhiro's shadow.

Mitsuhiro sat back down against the tree, and looked up to the twilight sky. He had two choices, choices that would surely change the course of his life forever. He could stay with Uzuki, Link, Yashiro, and Shuto... or he could run from them so that he wouldn't hurt them anymore than he already had.

"Stupid decisions if you ask me," Mitsuhiro muttered to himself as he stood up from the ground. "Good job, you idiot. You've managed to get yourself into this kind of trouble..." He jumped up onto a tree branch, and began leaping from tree to tree, moving farther and farther from the Mirror Sanctuary. And he kept running, until he reached the city of the Dark Realm, where the towers of the Society rose up to the dark twilight sky. He landed on a building roof, and stopped to gaze at the magnificent towers.

And so began the search for Mitsuhiro.


	37. Reappearance

Hey everyone,

Okay, I had to use a line tool to divide the two sections of ch.37, because unfortunately, just putting asterisks doesn't work anymore (don't know why, but I liked using asterisks better). Hope you guys enjoy! Please R&R!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 37: Reappearance**

Uzuki tied the last bandage around Shuto's wound. You could pretty much just say she had an unlimited amount of bandages on her at all times. It kind of freaked me out sometimes actually. But bandages aside, we were all amazed that we were able to save Shuto before it was too late. We were lucky that Mitsuhiro's blade hadn't gone through Shuto's heart; it was pretty close though. He had a few problems breathing, but Uzuki told me that Reapers heal much faster than humans do, so Shuto would be better in no time. But it was hard looking at Shuto with that hole in his chest. I took it as a message from Mitsuhiro, or the Kyodai no Akuma. He was telling us that he wouldn't hesitate to kill us. The sword through Shuto's chest was a warning to us... from the demon itself. I knew that this mission would probably last too long for me.

After Uzuki finished tying the bandages, she proceeded to her sketchpad that was lying in the grass. I stared at Dex who was sitting next to the sketchpad, looking through Uzuki's drawings. We were still at the Mirror Sanctuary, and we were trying to figure out where to search next.

Dex stood up and approached Uzuki as she lifted her sketchpad from the ground.

"Do you honestly think you can stop that monster?" he asked her in a low voice. I could still hear the conversation though.

"He's not a monster..." Uzuki muttered. "He's just being controlled by one."

"He's worse than Link though..."

"Don't you think you're to blame for that?"

Dex didn't respond.

"Exactly," Uzuki muttered, and placed his index finger on his chest. "Now, we're going to keep looking for him, and we are going to find him and kill that demon. If you want to try and stop us, be my guest. But we're not going to give up until we find Mitsuhiro."

Dex looked away from Uzuki's sharp look, and then looked towards me and Yashiro.

"Gonna try and stop us?" I asked Dex in a challenging voice.

Dex laughed, and approached me with a mischievous look in his eyes. "Far from it, kid. Listen, right now in the Dark Realm, I'm considered the most fearful and powerful demon among the Reapers. I don't know why that is, and frankly, I'm proud of that title. I ain't letting this Kyodai demon guy taking my title! I'm going to kick its sorry ass out of here!"

"Does that mean... you're going to help us?" I asked nervously. The idea of Dex working with me wasn't the best idea I'd heard in my life.

"What, do you need me to spell it out for you?" He withdrew his black Master Sword, which sent several shivers up my spine. I had only really seen that thing in my nightmares... and here he was, holding a twilight-possessed Master Sword. I didn't even know that something like that existed.

"But let me warn you..." Dex hissed, holding the tip of the twilight blade up to my neck. "This doesn't make us 'pals', 'friends', or even 'partners'. We're just working together to get rid of this demon. After that, everything goes back to normal, okay?"

"O-Okay..." I whimpered, not able to take my eyes off the blade even as Dex pulled it away from my neck.

"Good! Uzuki, where to first?"

Uzuki was drawing something in her sketchpad. "If Mitsuhiro wants to try and scare us away... we're just going to have to bring his fears to life!"

"Uzuki, what are you drawing?" Yashiro asked her.

Uzuki snapped her head up, quickly looking up to the sky. "We have to hurry... Mitsuhiro's scout is already coming back..." She wrapped a bandage around her eyes again, which told me that it was the same thing that scared her away before.

"W-What the hell is that thing?" I screamed, pointing up to the tower of the Mirror Sanctuary. There was a person standing there, and I knew it was the same person I had seen in the meadow before. He didn't move even as I screamed at him... he just stared at me with a haunting expression. Wait a minute... that thing didn't even have an expression... because it didn't even have a _face_.

"I-It's here already!" Uzuki screamed. She jumped up from the ground, and began to run from the Sanctuary. "Come on guys, I'll explain it on the way!_ Just run for your life_!"

Yashiro grabbed the unconscious Shuto and began running after Uzuki. Dex and I took one last look at the man looking down at us, and then we ran too.

"What in the world was it?" I asked Dex as we ran.

"How should I know? Whatever it was, it's definitely something we don't want to mess with!"

We eventually caught up to Uzuki, where she was starting to explain her plan. I looked at her sketchpad. She was drawing pictures of strange machines. A lot of the lines looked messy, but that was just because she was running and was blindfolded while she drew.

"Tell me Link, have you ever driven a car?" Uzuki asked me.

"Huh?"

* * *

Okay, this was literally the coolest thing that I had ever done in my life. When Uzuki had asked me if I had ever driven a car, I responded with, "What's a car?". But this was so awesome! Uzuki said that one of Mitsuhiro's greatest fears were cars, because of the cause of his death. Also, she said that if they tried to fly after him, they wouldn't be fast enough because they'd have to carry me, Dex and Shuto, and we didn't have enough people to fly for that. So Uzuki drew up some cars for us to drive. This was something that I knew would only happen in future society, but with Uzuki's imagination and drawing skills, she managed to bring the technology of a future world to life. She was riding what she called a 'motorcycle'. She said that the Reapers constantly studied future technologies, and what the world would be like with that technology. So she knew what the future technology was called, and what it looked like. Dex was driving a motorcycle, and because I didn't trust myself enough to drive, I sat behind him on the same bike. Yashiro was driving a strange flying machine, and Shuto was sitting in the back seat, still unconscious. He was starting to show signs of waking up though.

We all followed Uzuki with our machines through the forest, avoiding the trees as we drove. But what really nagged at my mind was the constant wonder of where we were going. Uzuki was just guiding us through the forest, and she had never told us where exactly we were going.

We finally stopped outside of the forest, where there was another meadow. But this one was filled with beautiful green grass and flowers. It didn't look like the Dark Realm here... it looked more like Kalasia. The only difference between this place and Kalasia was that the sky was still black with twilight, as were the flowers.

"Uzuki, where are we?" Yashiro asked as she jumped out from her flying machine.

"This was the second meeting place of the Time Keepers..." Uzuki said, remaining on her motorcycle. She looked around the meadow, and her eyes stopped on the ground. "That can't be right..."

"What can't be right?" Dex asked. "It's just a meadow."

"No, I mean... weren't there more flowers here before Yashiro?"

"Uzuki, it's a meadow. Flowers can be picked by some people, and they can wither and die," Yashiro replied.

"But look... I can see bits of the earth... its like the grass was burned away." Uzuki pointed to the brown line of earth in front of her.

"There's some over here too," Dex muttered, kicking the dirt by his foot. The three of us began examining the area, finding more lines of earth where the grass had been burned away. I found a strange 'v' marking, and Dex found three lines of dirt next to each other. Uzuki found strange circular patterns around the meadow. Yashiro found two lines of dirt crossing over each other to form an 'x'.

"What do you think this is?" I asked Uzuki curiously.

"I don't think it's anything serious," Dex muttered. "Some Reapers just decided to go nuts with fire."

"No, it's not that," Uzuki corrected, spreading out her black Reaper wings. She took off into the sky, Yashiro following her.

"What do you see Uzuki?" Yashiro asked her as they both looked down at the meadow from an aerial view.

"I've studied these things," Uzuki mumbled. "See there?" She pointed to the three lines of earth that Dex had found. "Those three lines can be accepted as Roman numerals for three. The 'v' that Link found stands for five in Roman numerals. And the two lines you found crossing over each other stand for ten."

"What about the circles?"

"Let's say that this is a clock, Yashiro. See all those strange taboo markings around the circles? These form a sealing spell. Maybe the numbers say what time the seal will open? In this case, it would be three fifteen."

"That's a great prediction Uzuki, but it could be something else. What if it's ten eight? Or eight ten? Or three eighteen?"

"Wait... look," Uzuki argued and pointed down at two other lines that they had failed to see. "That line is the smallest... and that line is longer. What if these are clock hands? The short line is pointing to the ten... and the longer hand is pointing the five."

"But what about the three?"

"There's another line. That could be the seconds hand. This time would be ten fifteen and three seconds." Uzuki flew down from the sky and landed back on the meadow grass. Yashiro followed, landing in her flying machine car.

"Any ideas?" Dex asked.

"Does anyone have a pocket watch?" Uzuki asked. I pulled out my pocket watch from my bag, and tossed it to her. She opened it, and then bit her lip.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"If my theories are correct, then we have only a few seconds to get out of here before this place becomes a burning wasteland," Uzuki muttered, and tossed the watch back to me.

Yashiro started up her car.

"What did you find out?" Dex asked.

"Listen, if we don't get out of here now we'll be burned to a crisp!" Uzuki yelled, and jumped onto her motorcycle. She revved up the motor and took off into the forest.

Yashiro started up her machine too, and began flying off after Uzuki, yelling, "This place is going to explode!"

Dex and I looked at each other with shocked expressions, and we both gulped. Dex leaped onto the motorcycle, pulling me onto the backseat, and he started the motor, taking no hesitation to drive into the forest. Not three seconds after we left the meadow did the meadow explode into flames. The flames circled the entire area first, and then they started lining through the forest.

"Drive faster Dex!" I screamed, looking back at the flames that were getting closer and closer to us.

"Shut up, Link! I'm going as fast as I can!" Dex yelled back.

"It's not fast enough!" The flames were already nearly around us now. Dex sped up the bike, driving faster and faster until we were ahead of the flames again. Then the flames stopped, all of them ending at the same time. Dex stopped the bike next to Uzuki's and looked back at the flames in the forest.

"What the hell was that?" Dex yelled.

"A fire explosion seal," Uzuki sighed as she caught her breath. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Dex muttered as he wiped the smoke ashes from his black shirt. "But that was too close. Reason one for you to learn water magic Link."

I ignored Dex's remark, and looked back at the burning forest. "Mitsuhiro, right?"

"That's what I'm guessing," Uzuki answered. "He knew we were coming. It's amazing how he knew which way we were going though. He's probably got traps like these set up all over the Dark Realm."

"This is going to be a pain in the ass, isn't it?" Yashiro groaned. "Uzuki, there's no possible way we can get away from Mitsuhiro's traps! We don't even know where the guy is! And this trap is probably one of his _simpler_ ones! I bet he's got ones out there that possesses us, or explodes, or sucks the entire area into a black hole or something!"

Uzuki started to giggle. "You're silly, only his scouts can possess and suck people into black holes!" she laughed, like she wasn't even worried about the current situation. "Anyways, that sounds like fun..."

"Uzuki, pay attention to the situation at hand!" I grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry, got distracted for a second..." she giggled. "Now, where would a psycho-maniac demon possessing our leader go?"

Dex placed his hand on my head, and licked his lips. "Where would I go if I was possessing Link?" he snickered. I frowned, and pushed his hand off my head, giving him a disgusted look.

"Hey, that's actually a good idea!" Yashiro exclaimed. "Dex, where would you go if you were possessing Link?"

"Don't answer that question!" I yelled, not wanting Dex to possess me for experimental reasons.

Dex paced across the grass, looking up to the sky as he thought over the situation. "Hmm... if I were to possess Link... I would probably jump off a cliff and get him killed."

"Come on, be serious about this," Uzuki mumbled, pulling the blindfold off from around her eyes.

"I am being serious."

"The Kyodai no Akuma can't just _kill_ Mitsuhiro! That would just kill itself!"

"Good point, I guess that would be the same situation as me and Link..." Dex muttered. "Alright, getting serious... that's actually a really good question... now that I think about it, I have no idea where I'd go if I possessed Link..."

"Please try and think of an answer. It could really help."

Dex tapped his chin, and shuffled his feet through the grass. "I guess if I were to possess Link, the first thing I would want to do is drive Link to the point of insanity... but the Kyodai no Akuma has already done that to Mitsuhiro, hasn't he? Driving someone to insanity usually makes them leave their current location, which Mitsuhiro has already done... after that, I would use Link to get something. Maybe I would make Link believe that he's better than everyone else... and then I would make him look for powers even stronger than he could ever imagine..."

"You would really do that?" I asked him with nervousness in my voice.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot."

"But where would a demon go to acquire such powers?" Yashiro asked while she poked Shuto's forehead, attempting to wake him from his deep slumber.

"An awesome demon like me would probably seek power from the next biggest threat," Dex answered, shoving his hands into his pockets and stopping his pacing to look at Yashiro. "Considering that Ganon is out of the question right now, the next biggest threat would be the Society, right?"

"Mitsuhiro has enough self-control... he won't go to the Society," Uzuki muttered as she kicked her toes against the ground. "It's getting late. We should set up camp so that we can get some rest." She began to draw in her sketchpad again, drawing out blankets, a lantern, and pillows. She set the new items around in a circle, then tucked her sketchpad back into her bag. Without stars or a moon in the sky, nighttime in the Dark Realm looked like any other day. But I was really tired, and I knew that I would need sleep if I wanted to survive the next day.

We all laid down on the blankets and stared up at the twilight sky. Even with nothing but black clouds, the golden hue made the twilight look so much more beautiful. It was like the golden color was the stars. But there was no moon, which made me feel a little depressed. Even the moon that Majora's Mask had tried to use to destroy Clock Town would have been better than nothing.

I looked over at Uzuki. She was wearing a blindfold, as usual, and was playing with a string around her fingers. Yashiro was reading a book she had kept in her bag, and Shuto had been carried from the flying car and set down on a blanket, still fast asleep. Dex was looking up at the sky, his eyes calm and his mouth brought into a straight line, almost into a frown.

The one thing that made me go a little nuts though was the fact that Mitsuhiro's scouts could have been watching us at that very moment. I didn't like what those... whatever they were looked like. I had noticed that they didn't have eyes... yet they could still stare into my very soul. But one of them had held its arms out to me... I obviously ran away, but before I almost felt like walking towards it. It had some sort of hold over me, and it almost felt like heartwarming comfort. But comfort or not, that thing was still a creepy monster none of the less. But if it was a monster... wouldn't it have attacked us? All it did was watch u... but that was enough to make Uzuki go completely nuts. When Yashiro had seen it though... she almost looked a little thrilled. And when we ran away from the creatures, she looked somewhat disappointed. It was like she was _happy_ to see the weird ghost thing. Ghost, creature, monster... whatever it was, it was going to keep me awake all night.

But all that thinking eventually made me fall asleep.

* * *

**An Interlude**

Uzuki sat up for the fifth time that night and took off her blindfold, unable to sleep because she knew she was being watched by Mitsuhiro's scouts. She had never felt so paranoid in her life, not since the day Mitsuhiro had shown her the videos of the ghosts for the first time. No... this time she was even _more_ paranoid. It was because she had actually encountered this monster... but in the real world the creature wasn't real. It was actually just a myth created by some high school student. But because Mitsuhiro had recreated the creature, and made it look so _real_... it just made Uzuki believe that the myth about the creature was all the more true than fake.

Uzuki looked down at Link sleeping, and then at Dex, and then Yashiro. Even in all this mess, they could get to sleep... She looked down at Link again, seeing the golden light from the sky shine from the metal on his headband wrapped around his forehead.

_You're a good leader for us, Link_, she thought as she stared at his headband. _You're doing a good job on this mission..._

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a twig snap. She wrapped the blindfold around her eyes again, aware that it could possibly be another scout. She navigated her way around, and then realized that it couldn't be a scout because it always attacked without making a sound. The scouts walked so gracefully... it was clearly impossible for them to break a twig. She kept walking towards the forest, and realized that she could sense someone's aura near her own... a green one. But it was two auras, one black and one green, and the green aura was extremely hard to detect because the black one was almost completely obscuring its presence.

Uzuki took off the headband slowly, her hands shaking because she was still scared of the scouts. She looked off to the distance where the golden hues looked so much like a sunset, and saw a figure sitting on the cliff. She swallowed, fearing that it was an enemy, but she approached it anyways, a feeling of recognition of the person overcoming her. The image of the person became clearer and clearer as she got closer, and saw that it was a man with his back facing towards her.

_Wait a minute... that's... _

Uzuki didn't have to take another step to know that it was clearly Mitsuhiro Minamimoto.

"M-Mitsuhiro?" she stammered, unable to think of words to say to her friend.

He looked back at her, and then turned back towards the sunset, not saying a word to her. He was clearly sane now... the question was for how long he was going to be sane.

"Mitsuhiro? Are you alright?" Uzuki asked, slowly and carefully sitting down next to him just in case he wasn't really himself.

"I didn't know you were here with them," he mumbled, looking down to his feet as they hung off the cliff. "I just came here to sort out some thoughts..."

"What happened to you Mitsuhiro? I thought you knew how to control-"

"Far from it Uzuki! Even your seal can't hold this thing back!" he yelled, glaring at her.

"Then why are you sane right now?"

"The bastard said he would give me some time to think to myself about what I wanted to do next."

Uzuki began rubbing her thumbs together and tapping her fingertips against each other. "You know, those scouts you sent out were pretty impressive... I nearly stopped halfway through our mission..."

"Uzuki, I promise you... I wasn't the one that sent those things out..."

"Yeah, I know. It was the Kyodai no Akuma. Don't need to blame yourself for that."

"Then you should know that just because I'm sane right now doesn't mean that the scouts are gone."

Uzuki twitched, and looked around. She gripped the blindfold in her hands tightly, keeping it ready for when she would need it.

"So what are you going to do?" Uzuki asked, still twitching her eyes to different areas in case there was a scout hiding somewhere. She felt paranoid again, the same paranoia she had as a human.

"Apparently I have two choices: I can stay here with you guys, or I can run away on my own, forever increasing my powers."

"I like choice number one better," Uzuki muttered, trying to cheer Mitsuhiro up.

"So you can tell Link to keep my headband. You're the new leader."

Uzuki blinked in surprise, and jumped to her feet. "Mitsuhiro, you're not possibly..."

He stood up and brushed the dirt from his hands. "Yep. I'm going to be gone within the next few minutes. I'm not going to be a Time Keeper anymore."

"But you can't leave! You're our leader!"

Mitsuhiro placed his hand on Uzuki's head, keeping the stern look on his face. "You're the leader now Uzuki." He turned around and began to leave the forest, before Uzuki let out a low mumble. "What did you say?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"I said that I'm not the leader for this anymore."

"Then pass it on to Shuto or Yashiro."

"Neither of them are the new leader. It's Link. He's the only one right for the job." Uzuki could feel her eyes get hot, and she knew she would end up falling into tears soon. No, she already knew she was crying when she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"You're going to let that squirt be the new leader?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"I know he's only been a member of the Time Keepers for two years, but he's the only one who can become stronger than all of us. He's already stronger than you..."

"That brat will never be stronger than me!" Mitsuhiro yelled, glaring back at her with black eyes.

"You have stronger abilities Mitsuhiro... but you can't control them like Link can. Look at you... you're already giving in to the demon. That's why you're weak! You don't pound that demon back into your soul!"

Mitsuhiro lunged at her, grabbing her neck and holding her up from the ground.

Uzuki just smiled, and threw a kunai at one of the trees in the forest. "You should be sleeping... Yashiro-chan." She looked at the black-haired Reaper casually leaning against the tree that the kunai had driven into. Yashiro was tightening black gloves on her hands.

"You know that I don't sleep Uzuki," Yashiro muttered. She pulled out her kunai gun and sword, and began walking towards Mitsuhiro. "You sure like to get into trouble, don't you Mitsuhiro? Don't you have someplace to be right now?"

Mitsuhiro let Uzuki go, and pulled out his katana from the sheath on his waist. Yashiro watched as Mitsuhiro began to shift into the demon, his eyes turning completely black and his skin becoming covered with black markings. Mitsuhiro licked his lips, and summoned his Time Distorter to his right arm.

"You want to fight, huh?" Yashiro snickered. "You know, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Mitsuhiro approached her after licking his lips one more time.

"Alright, I guess you want to do this the hard way. I'm fine with that."

Yashiro drew her sword and kunai gun, and said, "Goodbye," before lunging at him with a killer instinct.


	38. Growth

Hey guys, here's chapter 38 of Time Gate. It's from Yashiro Takahashi's point of view this time. It's shorter than usual, but that's because the point of view will change quickly, which leads to the next chapter. Hope you enjoy, please R&R!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate **

**Chapter 38: Growth**

Our swords clanged against each other, which marked the beginning of our battle. Uzuki had backed up from the fight, and was now running back to camp, probably to wake up the others. Which left me for a few moments to kick Mitsuhiro's sorry ass.

"You sure have changed, Mitsuhiro-san," I grumbled as I jumped back from him. "I never would have imagined you as this kind of demon." I eyed the kunai gun that was attached to my belt. That thing wouldn't do any damage against Mitsuhiro the way he was now... not _one_ at least. No... I would save that technique for later, when I needed it.

Mitsuhiro licked his lips again (which I thought looked pretty awesome, if you ask me), and lunged at me with his katana. I blocked it with my sword, jumping back one step with each swing. The bastard... he was just trying to knock me off the dang cliff!

"Not gonna work!" I hissed as he swung his sword at me again. When I backed up again, with all my strength, I attempted my teleporting trick. I had never gotten this trick to work... I was hoping that all the adrenaline inside me would give me the skills to let it work, just this once.

First, I focused a shadow portal inside my body. I was still standing here though...

_Please, Goddess Farore, work!_ I thought. _Just for once, please work! _

And then in one flash, I found myself _behind _Mitsuhiro... I did it! But instead of kicking Mitsuhiro in the back, which would send him down the cliff, I took my fist and smashed it into the ground, destroying the entire cliff altogether. Mitshiro's feet sunk into the destroyed earth, and I watched as he fell into the canyon below.

Uzuki finally came back with the group. "What happened Yashiro? Where's Mitsuhiro?" Uzuki asked me.

_He'd better not be dead, otherwise Uzuki will kill me..._ I thought as I peered down into the canyon. He wasn't dead. Far from it in fact. He was running down in the canyon, not bothering to come back up. Was he telling me to come down?

"Guys, let me handle this," I muttered to Uzuki, Link and Dex. I spread out my Reaper wings and jumped off the cliff, letting the wind pick up my wings. I flew down towards Mitsuhiro, my sword attached to my back and my arms outspread. I flattened my wings out to pick up speed, and straightened my body so that I was diving through the air. By the time Mitsuhiro realized that I was diving towards him, I had already tackled him. Because of my insane strength and speed from diving through the air, when I tackled him, we went through the ground, creating a large hole in the earth. I punched Mitsuhiro in the face, which caused the ground to break even more. Mitsuhiro finally retaliated and kicked me in the stomach, sending me upwards a bit. He punched me in the stomach multiple times, suspending me in the air, and then he finally flipped around and downwards kicked me back into the hole.

_Will it work again?_ I thought to myself as I fell. _Because I really don't want to hit the ground at this speed... I'll splatter like a bug... _I gathered up a portal inside my body again, and a split second before I hit the ground, I disappeared, reappearing next to the hole. _Aw, kickass! _I looked up at Mitsuhiro, who was floating in the air, confused about how I had safely landed next to the hole. With no hesitation, I flipped out my kunai gun, and fired kunais at Mitsuhiro while he was helpless in the air. But before the kunais hit him, he turned into a huge black cloud, soaring away from me and to the other end of the canyon. _What the? When in the world did he learn to do that?_

"I've got no choice but to..." I mumbled to myself as I ran to the canyon rock wall to my right. As Mitsuhiro ran towards me from the other end of the canyon, I pulled out my kunai gun, closed my eyes, and waited. I felt my Soul power warm up inside me like fire... and then I opened my now red berserker eyes. In my right hand a second kunai gun appeared. I kept my glowing sword attached to my back for when I would need it. I began to charge towards Mitsuhiro, gripping the handles of my kunai guns tightly. Mitsuhiro ran at me like a wild animal, and it almost appeared like he was running on his feet and his _hands_. I kept running towards him, and right before we clashed, I teleported into the air so that I was above him, and I began firing multiple kunais from both kunai guns as I flipped through the air, striking him in the arms, back, shoulders and legs. He fell forward, but only for a second. It only took him a second to get the kunais out of his body and to get back up again.

_What a monster_... I thought. _There's just nothing stopping this guy! Sorry Uzuki_... I pulled out my sword from the sheath on my back. _But I'm going to have to destroy this bastard_... I teleported away from Mitsuhiro and back to the spot I was in before, so that I was in front of him. I tightened my grip around the handle of the sword, but I couldn't stop myself from shaking... why in goddesses' name couldn't I stop shaking? Was it because I was actually _scared_ of this demon...? Or was it because it didn't feel right to hold my sword up to my leader's neck? No, he wasn't my leader anymore... he was a monster. No better than Ganon.

I leaped into the air, and I struck the ground, shattering the earth into a huge hole, sucking Mitsuhiro down into the depths of the earth.

"Goodbye Mitsuhiro..." I sighed. "I'm sorry... it just had to be done." I turned around from the hole, and began my walk back towards the cliff side where Uzuki, Link, Dex, and even Shuto were watching me. Good, the kid was finally awake. I climbed up the canyon wall, grabbed Uzuki's shoulder, and shook my head at her.

"Sorry Uzuki," I apologized. "I don't think he survived that..."

Uzuki shook her head back at me. "No, he's still alive! I can feel his aura... it's really faint though..."

I looked back down into the canyon, and saw that he was indeed getting back up from the huge hole in the ground. I swore, and grabbed Shuto, Link, Uzuki and Dex. I gathered the four of them into a huddle.

"Hold on, alright?" I told them.

They all nodded, and then in the next split second, I teleported them away from the canyon. We ended up in the Dark Realm city. So I could even teleport to places as far away as this... awesome. What _wasn't_ awesome was that I had to destroy a car that had nearly hit us, because we had landed right in the middle of the dang street! And they were _still_ testing cars in open roads! I had to smash my fist into the tiny car, and then I threw it to the side of the road as a warning. That was a _warning_. Next time I would go up to the people testing it and I would smash their faces in until my fist went straight through their itty-bitty bodies!

"Dammit, why are the scientists here so smart and yet so stupid at the same time?" I yelled as I pulled Link, Uzuki, Dex and Shuto off the street. Another car flew by the moment we moved. I glared at the scientists that were standing on the road, observing the tests. I ran up to one and punched him in the face. "You guys are a bunch of sick bastards, you know that? What the hell are you doing, continuing to test this stuff here?"

"Yashiro, don't bother!" Uzuki yelled. She grabbed onto my sleeve, and pulled me away. "Come on, there's no use trying to argue with that trash." The four of us sat down at one of the benches on the sidewalk.

"What we need to worry about is where to look next," Link said.

Shuto rubbed his eyes in a tiring motion. "Can anyone tell me what's happened? I'm really confused..."

"I'll tell you later Shuto," Uzuki sighed as she pulled out a map of the Dark Realm. She scanned over the drawn images, and then took out a pen and began putting 'x' markings in various areas. She showed us the map, and pointed to all the images that had an 'x' on them. There were also areas with checkmarks.

"Okay, see these 'x's'?" Uzuki asked us, tracing her finger around one of them. "These are the possible places where Mitsuhiro has set up his traps. The checkmarks are the places where we should be safe. The Dark Realm City is one of them. Another place is the Society's Castle, but there's no chance that we're going there. Being in this city is already dangerous enough. The Twilight Realm is another place, but there's no reason to go there... we are _not_ going back to our base, because that's the first place where he would set up a trap."

"I don't think he's that stupid to destroy our own house, Uzuki," I objected.

"Mitsuhiro isn't, but the Kyodai no Akuma would take no hesitations," Uzuki continued. "The trick is to figure out where to go next... Dex, you said that he would look to find power from the next biggest threat... that would be the Society, right?"

"Yeah, I guess..." he mumbled. Uzuki grabbed Dex by his neck, causing him to flinch and become immobile.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.

"Whatever! Just let go of my neck!" he yelled. She didn't let go, and pulled him over to the other side of the street. _Ah, the good ole' neck nerve trick,_ I thought. _She used to pull that trick on me all the time... wait, she still does. And I hate her for that!_

* * *

**A Short Interlude**

"Would you let go of my neck?" Dex screamed. Uzuki let go, and giggled.

"Sorry," she apologized. Dex rubbed the sore spot on his neck, and then frowned at her.

"So what is it that you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

Uzuki stopped giggling, and frowned. "I know you're a member of the Society, Dex."

"W-What are you talking about?" Dex lied, trying his hardest to act surprised. "I wouldn't join those guys!"

Uzuki grabbed his neck again, causing him to sink to the ground in pain.

"Don't lie to me!" she hissed, her voice sharp like knives. "You've been a member of the Society for quite some time now, haven't you?"

"Yes, alright?" Dex yelled in pain.

"What division are you in?"

"Division... uh... I'm a member of my own division! I'm Division X, I don't have a number!"

"They'd put you in a separate division?"

"They said they needed me to work on my own, so they put me in my own special division!"

"Who's the next highest member then in the ranks?"

"Iwata Hashimoto and Jun Kaniji! I'm higher than Mikumo Sato!"

"Alright, but you work all on your own, huh?"

"Yes, I work on my own! I don't go on missions very often and I can go anywhere!"

"So I'm guessing that it was _you_ who set Lon Lon Ranch to flames two years ago."

"Yes, alright? It was me! What does this have to do with the Kyodai no Akuma though?"

"Dex, I have a mission for you. Think you can handle it?"

"Whatever, just let go!"

Uzuki pinched even harder, bent down and glared into his black eyes. "Can I trust you to do this for me? I need you to be our spy. I want you to go into the Society's Castle and tell me what's happening between Mitsuhiro and the Society."

Dex didn't respond.

"Dex? Can I trust you to do that?"

"Alright, fine!" Dex hissed. Uzuki still didn't let go. "What more do you want from me?"

"You're going to return to the Society after this, right?"  
"Yes!"

"Then I want you to promise me you won't breath word of this mission to the Society while you're on this mission, and after you do this mission. Promise?"

"Yes, I promise!"

Uzuki finally released her tight grip on his neck. "Good! That's a promise though. I'll know if you broke it, and trust me, if I find out that you did, you'll wish that you were dead!" Uzuki and Dex walked back across the street, back to where the rest of the team was waiting.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 38 (continued)**

"So what are we doing?" I asked Uzuki once she reached our end of the street.

"We're sitting here, Dex is going on a mission for us," she explained. "Dex is being nice enough to go back to the Society and to be our spy. He's a member of the Society you know."

"He is?" Link exclaimed. "Dex, how could you!"

"You're an idiot," Dex muttered. "You should have realized it the moment I set Lon Lon Ranch to flames."

"But, why would you..."

"That doesn't matter right now, Link," Uzuki sighed. "Right now, we have to focus on waiting it out while Dex sneaks into the Society. Do you have your robe Dex?"

Dex held out his hand, and several twilight squares formed on his palm, creating a black robe with multiple zippers. Similar to the Time Keepers robe, but different in so many ways. Dex cloaked himself in the robe, and then pulled the hood over his face.

"Ready Dex?" Uzuki asked him. She tossed him her C.T. Crystal. "You can contact us at any time."

"Ugh, as ready as I'll ever be... I guess..."

"Alright, good luck Dex! And don't come back until you get some information about Mitsuhiro's relation to the Society!"

Dex nodded, and was enveloped into a black cloud, like the cloud Mitsuhiro flew with when I was fighting him. The cloud flew off towards the white castle in the city, and disappeared within one of the buildings on the outside.

"So what do you want us to do?" Shuto asked. "Just wait around?"

"Well, that's not really up to me," Uzuki muttered. "I'm not the leader."

"You're not?" I asked. "But because Mitsuhiro is gone, you have to-"

Uzuki placed her hand on Link's head. "Link is our leader!"

Link twitched his eye, and frowned. "Wait, you're serious? You want me... to actually be the leader of the Time Keepers?"

"For now, yes," Uzuki said, smiling. "Unless you don't think you can handle it."

Link pulled out Mitsuhiro's headband, and tied it around his left arm. He secured the headband on his forehead, and smiled with determination.

"We'll check any of the other areas that Uzuki's marked, just to make sure if Mitsuhiro is there or not," he stated. Uzuki spread her Reaper wings, and picked Link up from the ground. Shuto and I spread our wings, and flew up into the twilight sky with Link and Uzuki.

Link as the leader huh? Yep, this was going to be a fun mission alright...


	39. Betrayal

Hey everyone,

Finally, it's here! Chapter 39 of Time Gate... man I really wish I had gotten this done sooner...! I hope that I will never make you all wait so long again! It might not be as good as the last chapters because I started to rush it near the end, but I hope that you will all enjoy it anyways! This chapter is also done from Dex's point of view. Please R&R!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 39: Betrayal **

I walked through the streets of the Dark Realm City, leaving behind a trail of twilight shadows each time I took a single graceful step. Why was I doing this for Uzuki? I really had no idea. I was always doing something for someone, and I always seemed to be doing it either for the good guys or the bad. But of course, after working with both sides, in my eyes, neither one was good or bad. They were just two groups fighting against each other. The Time Keepers versus the Society. Would this spark a war eventually? No, the two groups were still mysteries to the Realm of Light. . . but it would surely cause a battle in this world. I knew that Link didn't stand a chance. Five people - seven if you included Kon and Miu - against four hundred Reapers. Their chances were very slim. I would normally say eight people against four hundred Reapers, but I didn't consider myself a part of this fight. I just helped out. But what about the Deity? Was he helping? I guess you could consider that he was doing the same thing as me: watching to see who would win. Zelda could do something to change that though; although she's only Link's age. But Link has gotten stronger. . . what was Zelda doing? I guess she just wasn't a part of this fight either. I guess it was better that way.

When I made it to the immense castle that belonged to the Society, two guard Reapers stopped me before the door.

"What is it that you want?" one of the guards asked me.

"What, you don't recognize me?" I sighed. "I'm Dex, from Division 'X'. I have to speak with Iwata-sama."

"Hm, Dex eh? Haven't seen you around the castle for a while. . . how do I know it's really you?"

Of course he would ask me that. I sighed and pressed my palm against the man's chest. Twilight began to seep from under my hand, growing over the man's body like spiny vines. The man cringed in shock and dropped his weapon. The twilight continued to expand, the shadows crawling over his arms and face, until he went pale and fainted. I snickered, and then looked at the second guard, who was shaking in fear.

"W-We're very sorry for stopping you, Dex-sama!" the guard apologized. "P-Please go in!"

"Whatever," I hissed. I kicked the man on the ground in the side. "He'll be awake soon."

_In another week_, I thought hysterically as I walked inside. I took out a pair of gloves from my pocket and put them on my hands as I walked down the hallway so I could hide the scent of burned flesh from my skin. The black robe that I wore popped out from everything else in the white hallways. Everything here was white. The doors, the torches, the floor, walls, ceiling... even the flames on the walls were tinted with an odd blue-white color. Everyone in this building wore black though. Black robes, black boots, black gloves. . . it was all uniform.

I walked down the hallways with a smirk on my face. Other Reapers were walking down the hallways, nearly all of them with their hoods pulled over their faces. Everyone that didn't have their hoods on looked exactly the way a Reaper from the Society should have looked. Most Reapers in the Society had silver or black hair, with skinny bodies and bony fingers, and thin scary black eyes that could turn a person's soul to dust and their bodies to stone.

I turned a corner, and bumped into a little girl. The girl grunted in surprise and fell to the floor. She was _tiny_ – about the size of a freakin' five year old.

"Owwy!" the little girl cried. She looked up at me, and her big eyes widened. "Ah! You're Dex!"

"Sorry. . . who are you again?" I asked. I still had to remember everyone's names. Four hundred names for me to remember. . . whoopie.

The little girl stood up and brushed herself off in a rather childish manner. Then she smiled at me with a big toothy grin. "I'm Miki, remember? From Mikumo's division."

"Oh yeah, you're Saru's partner, right?"

"Sadly, yes. . . by the way, have you seen Saru anywhere? I've been looking for him all day. . ."

"Nope."

"Aww man. . . if I don't find him by the next mission, Mikumo's going to get mad. . . If you see him, could you bring him to me?"

"Uh, okay. . ."

"Thanks!" Miki giggled, and then ran off down the hallway.

_Saru's missing?_ I thought. _That's weird. The guy never goes anywhere. . . and he shouldn't be on any assignments or anything if Miki doesn't know about it. . . Maybe I should keep an eye out for the jerk. . ._

I continued my walk down the hallways, walking up stairs and crossing bridges until I found myself in the second highest tower in the castle. The hallways up here all looked the same too as they did downstairs. But there were black carpets trailing the floors up here. And the Soul power of the Reapers up here was much stronger.

I found the door that was marked with the number three. I knocked on the door, and waited for a few seconds before the door slowly opened. When the door opened, I saw someone sitting at a desk at the other end of the room. I knew who he was: Ikkashi, second member of the first division. He was this sick, twisted scientist who was only interested in experimenting on things. His favorite subject was what made him so sick in the first place. He loved to experiment on human beings and Reapers. There was this little girl who used to be in Ikkashi's division, but he experimented on her while she was asleep. She now has these huge stitches going through her face. She's in Ixion's division now.

I started to wonder how the door opened all by itself. Ikkashi was sitting all the way over on the other side of the room. Unless the door was automated. . . but then I saw the string attached to Ikkashi's gloved finger. He always had to make things a little test, and he never got up from his desk because he was always on to some new experiment of his that he always guaranteed would work. All the technology that was a part of the Reaper Society and the Dark Realm was created by him. As sick and twisted as he was, he was a genius. A sick, twisted genius.

"Hello Dex," he greeted. He also always knew who he was talking to, even though he hadn't seen their faces. He was like a blind person. "May I help you with anything today?"

I figured that the first person I should ask about the Kyodai no Akuma would be the person who knew the most about demons in the entire Society.

"Ikkashi-sempai, do you know anything about Mitsuhiro joining us? Or maybe the Kyodai no Akuma?" I asked.

"Ah yes, our newest experiment," he snickered. "I'm quite looking forward to researching the boy. . . he'll make an excellent test subject.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, all you ever think about are your sick experiments, _I thought.

"Okay, so what do you know about him?"

"Not enough, I'm afraid. Even Iwata is keeping secrets from me now. . . but I can tell you what I do know."

I approached him, and sat down next to him at his desk. I began to look around the small white room. The only furniture in here was the desk and a couple chairs, along with multiple desks lining the walls. Pieces of paper, scribblers, pencils and books were tossed around, making the room look like a cramped little closet.

Ikkashi looked up at me. The thing I probably hated the most about Ikkashi: he always wore the creepiest masks. He would wear a different one every day, each one creepier than the last one. One time I even saw him wearing what I believed to be Majora's Mask, although it was hard to tell whether it was real or not.

Ikkashi looked at me from under his strange mask. "Apparently, Mitsuhiro Minamimoto is joining the Society."

_Well, that's not a surprise, _I thought.

"He was supposed to be a member when he was first born as a Reaper, but it was because of his friends that he didn't join. Now that the Kyodai no Akuma is in control though, there will be nothing stopping him from leaving that pathetic little group and joining us. Although, there is one small problem. . ."

"And what's that?"

"If you were to look at Mitsuhiro's Soul, you would still be able to see a small amount of it lingering beneath the Kyodai no Akuma's. Which could lead to problems. . ."

If you were to look at Mitsuhiro's Soul. . . did that mean that Ikkashi could read Souls and auras just like Uzuki?

"What do you mean?"

"When you look at Mitsuhiro's Soul, you can see his entire body being covered by the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul. It's almost like he's being swallowed up. But if you were to look closer, you would be able to see Mitsuhiro's Soul hiding within him. If Mitsuhiro's Soul is still alive, that means that he could still fight back and ruin everything. We have to make sure that the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul completely swallows Mitsuhiro's Soul. Otherwise this plan is completely useless."

"What is the plan anyways?"

"It's called the 'Kronoa Project'. Do you remember how the original plan was to use Link's body as a vessel to hold the great Ganondorf's Soul?"

"Yeah."

"Unfortunately, he is still a child, and it would be impossible for his frail little body to hold his Soul, your Soul, the Fierce Deity's Soul, and Ganon's Soul all at the same time without him completely destroying himself."

"Why don't you just get Ganon's Soul to take over Link's Soul and the Fierce Deity's Soul? He doesn't need them."

"That is true, but Iwata has decided to keep the Fierce Deity's Soul. According to the Deity's legend that is passed down in the land of Termina, the Deity is a god, almost as powerful as the Goddesses themselves. He looks as if he has the power of light, but he is a god that houses an evil that is almost as powerful as the Majora's Mask itself."

_That guy. . . now he's suddenly a god?_ I thought angrily.

"Iwata figures that if Ganon were to have this power, he would be unstoppable. And he would have your amazing power too."

"So if Link isn't the vessel anymore, then who is?" I asked.

It looked as if Ikkashi was smiling, but it was hard to tell because of the mask. "Mitsuhiro is going to be the vessel."

"Then what's this Kronoa Project?"

"It's sort of a plan 'B', if you have to know. The failure rate of using Mitsuhiro's body as a vessel is very low, as he is the strongest Reaper any of us have ever seen. . . although his Soul is still alive, and his friends are trying to help him. If we can't use Mitsuhiro, then we have to launch the Kronoa Project. We'll create our own vessel out of Link's blood."

I was just getting more and more confused. "But you yourself said that Link's blood wasn't ready yet! That we had to wait for my Soul and for the Fierce Deity's Soul to resinate with his before we did it! You said that we had to wait until he could use my power and the Deity's power at the same time before we took his blood!"

"This isn't going to be the blood to revive Ganon," Ikkashi explained calmly. "We'll use some of his blood now to create a vessel. We'll also have to get your blood and a bit of the Deity's blood in order for this to work."

I sighed. "And let me guess. . . you want _me_ to get the blood for you, right?"

"Why, yes."

"I thought you said Iwata didn't tell you everything. You seem to know a lot."

"I don't know a lot about this Kronoa that Iwata keeps talking about. I intend to find out more though. . . but then again, it's just a lousy plan 'B'. It's nothing to get too excited about."

I nodded, and stood up from the desk. "Thanks for the information, Ikkashi." I turned away and headed for the door. But before I left, I stopped to say one last thing. "Oh, and if you don't mind, you should take that mask off when you're talking to people. At least then they can see your eyes and know you can be trusted."

Ikkashi nodded, and turned around to continue his work. "Ah, but how can you see the Soul of a person when they have no eyes for you to peer through, my friend?"

At least, that's what I thought he said.

When I entered Iwata's room, he was standing across to me with his back facing towards me as he looked out the giant window that was placed on his wall.

"Iwata-sama," I greeted.

"Ah, Dex, come in," Iwata welcomed. I walked into his room. Because he was the leader, his room was the biggest. It was painted white, like all the other rooms, but the furniture was much nicer. Although, each member of the Society was allowed to customize their rooms to their own tastes. Iwata was this royal kind of guy, so he always had nice furniture. The couches were all white, the coffee table in the middle had a glass cover with white legs, and there were white drapes hanging from the ceiling. It reminded me a lot of the house where Link and the rest of the group stayed. . .

"Well? What is it?" Iwata asked me. I realized that I had been so caught up with looking at his room that I never asked my question.

"Oh, um. . . Iwata-sama, I was wondering if you could share some information with me about Mitsuhiro joining the Society. Ikkashi has told me a lot, but I was hoping if you could tell me more."

"Well, if Ikkashi has already told you a lot, then there's not much left for me to explain. The Kronoa Project is a little experiment. Ikkashi is going to attempt to create a vessel from Link, the Deity, and your blood. If it works, and if Mitsuhiro can't be used as Ganon's vessel, then we'll use Kronoa."

I walked up next to him and looked out the window. The view was amazing. You could see all of the Dark Realm through it. The only thing you couldnt't see . . . was the house. Mitsuhiro and the rest of his friends had found that house in just the perfect spot. It was a miracle that they found such a great hiding place. If they hadn't, then they would have been dead by now.

"Ikkashi said. . . that he wanted me to get some of Link's blood. . ." I said.

"Then that is what you will do. You're the only one now who can get it," Iwata replied.

"And if I fail?"

"Hm, I don't think you'll fail."

I sighed, and turned around, heading for the door. Uzuki was trusting me, which was a big mistake. This is why I became a member of the Society. . . right? To finally defeat Link. . . but I had this constant voice nagging at my mind. . . I couldn't stand it. . .

_Are you sure this is the right thing to do?_

Now I knew how Link felt when I kept talking to him. I was like that nagging little voice, except instead of encouraging him, I insulted him. I suddenly felt like a big jerk.

I ignored the little voice in my head as I left the castle and stepped back outside onto the street. When I came back, Uzuki, Link, Shuto and Yashiro were once again sitting on the bench on the side of the road.

"Back already? That didn't take long," Uzuki said. She was drawing in her sketch pad, as usually. Yashiro was eating from another bag of spicy quesadilla chips or whatever she called them, and Shuto was poking at the wounds he got from his fight with Mitsuhiro.

I looked at Link. He was staring at his hands with a lot of intensity in his eyes. His Triforce was glowing brightly for some reason.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"Link!" Yashiro yelled, hitting him on his back and snapping him out of his trance.

"Hey! I almost had it too!" Link yelled back. He looked at me. "Dex? You're back already?"

_Yes, I think we've established that_, I thought, annoyed by his lack of attention.

"Well? What are we going to do now?" Uzuki asked. "Dex, did you find anything interesting?"

"I'll explain later," I muttered. "But I'm really tired. . . can we find some place to stay for the night?"

Uzuki sighed, and pointed at the inn across the street. "Let's go check in there. But you have to tell us what you found out the moment we do, okay?"

"Alright, whatever you say. . ."

Uzuki and Link stood up from the bench, and Yashiro helped Shuto up. We all walked across the street, and the moment we stepped onto the sidewalk, another car flew by, followed by the sound of screaming people.

"Damn cars. . ." Uzuki hissed as she looked at the floating car that had suddenly come to a halt at the end of the street.

"Come on Uzuki, forget about it," Link muttered as we stepped inside the inn.

When we got to our rooms, I fell into my bed, and curled up into the blanket.

I felt someone kick me in my side. I looked over to see Uzuki standing by my bed.

"Alright, spit it out Dex," she muttered. "What did you learn?"

I sat up in my bed. I had to tell her everything, but I had to keep the Kronoa Project a secret too.

"Well, do you want me to start off with the bad news?" I asked her.

"Whatever works for you. I just want to know what's going to happen to Mitsuhiro-kun."

Link, Shuto, and Yashiro gathered in around us to hear what I had to say. I hoped that I could tell them everything I knew without saying anything about the Kronoa Project.

". . . Okay, let me just get this out straight," I began. "Mitsuhiro is gone now. He's joining the Society."

Uzuki cringed, and crossed her arms. "He won't join. . . I know he won't. . ."

"Do you know Ikkashi?"

"Yeah, that scientist who sometimes works with Luxerus, right?" Yashiro asked.

"He's kind of in charge of the whole thing. He told me that Mitsuhiro is on the verge of losing his Soul."

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"Uzuki, did you see Mitsuhiro's aura the last time you saw him?" I asked her.

Uzuki didn't respond.

"Well? Did you?" I could tell that she already knew what situation Mitsuhiro was in.

"I-I don't like looking at his aura anymore. . ." she said quietly. "But I don't want Mitsuhiro to disappear forever. . ."

"What are you two talking about?" Shuto asked.

"To those of you who can't see auras. . . Mitsuhiro's Soul is being devoured by the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul. He's not gone yet, but soon Mitsuhiro's Soul will be completely eaten by the Kyodai no Akuma. . ."

Link looked at Uzuki with wide eyes. "Is that even possible?"

"Link, don't you understand?" Uzuki yelled. "Everything that we have done since you joined. . . everything that the Society has done. . . bringing those monsters to life, casting twilight over Hyrule, setting Lon Lon Ranch to flames. . . it was all a distraction! It was all just to distract us away from the Kyodai no Akuma!"

Shuto looked down to the floor in shame. "So. . . all those missions. . . the attack on Hyrule Castle and Link's transformation into a demon. . ." He began to raise his voice. "It was all just a goddess-damned distraction?"

We were all silent.

"Ikkashi. . ." I continued. "He also said that they may need a plan 'B'. Turns out Mitsuhiro's Soul is still somewhat alive inside the Kyodai no Akuma's, which means that Mitsuhiro could still fight back. . . if that happens, then that means Ikkashi has to use his plan 'B' instead."

"And what's the plan 'B'?" Yashiro asked worriedly.

". . . I don't know," I replied. I wasn't going to tell them anymore about it. I looked up to Uzuki. She was glaring at me. Did she know?

"But Mitsuhiro's Soul is still awake, right?" Link asked.

"Yeah, but it's really constricted under the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul. He might not last much longer unless we do something."

Uzuki shook her head. "I'll save him. I don't know how. . . but I'll save him. There has to be some way to get the Kyodai no Akuma out from him." She went over to her bed, which was her own personalized hammock built out of bandages. She laid down in the bandages, and looked out the window away from us.

Shuto, Yashiro and Link headed to their beds. I laid myself back down again, and pulled the blanket over myself.

* * *

I opened my eyes, and immediately looked at the clock. It was two in the morning. I looked around. Everyone was sleeping.

_Perfect_, I thought. I quietly shifted around in my bed and then slowly got off the mattress, stepping very quietly onto the hardwood floor. I slowly walked towards Link's bed, trying so hard as to not make a sound. As I walked, I pulled out the switchblade I always kept hidden in my robe pocket, and moved over to Link's bed, where Link was peacefully sleeping. I looked around again, making sure no one was awake, and then I placed the tip of the blade against Link's arm.

_Sorry for this,_ I thought. _But I have no choice_. . . I dragged the knife across his arm, cutting his skin. Blood began to rise through the cut. I gathered some of the blood onto the blade of my knife, and then proceeded to the door. But I was stopped when I heard someone speak to me.

"Stop right there, Dex."

I turned around to see Uzuki sitting upright on her hammock.

_Crap!_ I thought. _When did she wake up? _

She stepped onto the floor and began to approach me. "I always thought better of you Dex. . . I guess you can't change a Shadow, no matter how hard you try."

"How did you know?" I asked her curiously.

"You forgot the fact that no one can lie to me." The pupils in her eyes suddenly turned to rings and grew bigger. "I can read auras, remember?"

_Aura reading. . . crap, she's known this entire time. . . she's probably looking at my aura right now. . . _I gritted my teeth in anger.

"What are you doing?" she asked him. "Did Iwata ask you to do something?"

"I'm not telling you," I objected. I wasn't going to let her simple aura reading ability get to me.

Uzuki shook her head. "Of course you won't. I already know who told you to do his chores. . . it was Ikkashi, wasn't it? That freak scientist from the first Division?"

_There's no escaping her. . ._ I thought.

"You traitor," Uzuki hissed. "I bet even you don't even know who's side you're on. . . you constantly run from both us and the Society, unable to make decisions like a little child. . ."

_Shut up,_ I thought.

"You're a coward, and you can't seem to keep your word to anything."

"Shut up," I hissed.

"Tell me what the Kronoa Project is. I know Ikkashi told you almost everything about it."

"And what makes you think I'll tell you?"

She stared at me, the rings in her eyes confusing me and driving me crazy. I hid the knife under my sleeve so that she wouldn't see it. She probably didn't know about it because she hadn't brought it up yet.

"Get out," she said in a clear voice. "And think about who's side you're on." She turned around, and went back to her hammock.

I scowled at her, opened a shadow portal against the wall, and then left the room, the knife with Link's blood in hand.

_You can tell when I'm lying Uzuki, but it's still so easy to fool you_, I thought as I traveled through the shadow portal.

* * *

When I arrived in Ikkashi's room, I was surprised to see Mitsuhiro standing next to him.

"Look who finally arrived," Ikkashi muttered to himself. I didn't know whether he was talking about me or Mitsuhiro.

"He's here already?" I asked, looking at Mitsuhiro. Man, did he ever change. His hair was messed up pretty bad, and his black tuxedo had a lot of rips in it. He had dark rings under his eyes, and for some reason, there was a strange black 'x' written on his shoulder, where the left sleeve had been completely ripped off. Black lines was drawn from the bottom of his eyes to his jaw, and there was a silver streak running through one of his black bangs. He wasn't wearing shoes anymore either; instead, he had bandages wrapped around his feet.

"Did you get the blood?" Ikkashi asked me, holding his hand out.

I tossed him the knife. He examined the blood on it, and nodded.

"This will do perfectly. Thank you Dex." He set the knife inside a strange glass capsule, and then set it on his desk.

Mitsuhiro glared at me. I tried not to stare back, but it was hard. His eyes kept drawing me back in.

Uzuki's words kept coming back into my head. I knew that they were simple mind tricks, but they were getting to me. I wasn't a coward. . . was I?

"Mitsuhiro, this is Dex," Ikkashi introduced.

Mitsuhiro didn't say anything. He continued to stare at me with his pure black eyes.

"You're going to be in his division from now on."

He still didn't say anything.

Ikkashi walked towards the door. "Come you two. We are going to talk to Iwata and tell him that our mission was a success."

Mitsuhiro stopped staring at me and followed Ikkashi out of the room. I walked behind Mitsuhiro, and bit my lip when I saw the white 'x' that was printed on the back of his tuxedo jacket. This guy was definitely screwed in the head.

_Uzuki is crazy to think she can save this guy now_. . . I thought as I walked down the hallway with Mitsuhiro and Ikkashi. _Mitsuhiro is done for. _

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Uzuki jumped out of her hammock and ran over to Link's bedside. She looked at his arm, where there was a thin line of blood. She lowered her head in defeat.

"Dammit. . . I should have known. . ." she hissed to herself. "I screwed up. . ."

She jumped up from her bed, grabbed her scythe, and ran out the door, leaving behind the rest of the group.

Several minutes later, Yashiro arose from her short sleep.

"Ah, three hours of sleep," she yawned as she stood up from her bed. "That should do me for the next day or so. . ." She looked over at the hammock where she expected to see Uzuki sleeping, but she was gone.

"Uzuki?"

Yashiro looked around the entire room, trying to find her best friend.

"Goddess Din, she must have left!" she exclaimed, which woke up Shuto from his sleep.

"Ugh. . . Yashiro? What are you doing up?" he asked tiredly. "It's four in the morning. . ."

"Shuto, Uzuki's not in her bed!" Yashiro said.

". . .What. . .?" Shuto tiredly got out of bed and looked around the room. "Huh. . . that's weird. . . don't worry about it, she probably just went to the bathroom or something. . ."

"But Dex is gone too! I'm worried!" She went over to Link's bed and kicked him in the side, waking him up immediately.

"Zz, wha-? What's going on?" he asked, snapping to reality in a split second.

"Uzuki and Dex are both gone!" Yashiro said for the third time that night. "Come on, we gotta go find them!"

Link got out of bed and grabbed his weapons and his hat, and then ran out the door behind Yashiro and Shuto.

_Dammit, where the hell could she have gone?_ Yashiro thought frantically as she ran down the stairs and past the front desk. _Her scythe and weapons are gone. . . which meant she obviously took them because she knew she was going to fight someone. . . is she going after Mitsuhiro?_

Yashiro charged down the streets of the Dark Realm City, the huge white castle coming into view.


	40. To Each His Own End

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**An Interlude**

Mitsuhiro gazed out the window, his pale hands pressing against the glass.

_Quite a view, eh? _

Mitsuhiro scraped his fingernails down the window glass in anger from hearing the Kyodai no Akuma's voice again.

"Who are you to judge for me?" Mitsuhiro hissed. He looked at the light that shone through the black clouds of the Dark Realm.

_Mitsuhiro, you were correct to come here._

"No. . . this is a mistake. I shouldn't be here. I should be back with the Time Keepers. . ."

_But think of how powerful you can become here!_

"No, you're the one that's becoming more powerful. I'm simply your puppet so that you have a body to control. I hate you. You're a sick twisted bastard who only likes to eat the Souls of other people so that you can become stronger. . . you're not taking my Soul though. I won't let you."

_. . . Pain._

Mitsuhiro suddenly felt himself cringe, like his entire body had been struck with needles. He fell to his hands and knees in utter pain. Blood began to run out of his mouth.

"Do whatever you want to me. . . I won't let you take my Soul away from me. . ." Mitsuhiro cried under his breath.

_Mitsuhiro, you are on the edge of death. Your Soul is mine. _

Another spark of pain flew through Mitsuhiro's body. He screamed in pain as he fell to his stomach on the floor. He could feel his Soul being crushed under the power of the Kyodai no Akuma.

"Let me go. . ." Mitsuhiro hissed.

_Die. _

Suddenly, all of the demon's Soul flew through Mitsuhiro. He screamed as the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul tried to overtake his.

"I won't let you. . ." His words were only greeted by more pain. The thorn designs that were painted on his arms from Uzuki's seal grew out over his hands and face. The markings grew all over his body, covering his entire body in a cloud of thorns and shadows. Multiple rings of thorns circled around his body has he began to float up from the floor.

_I-I can't control my body_. . . he thought. He couldn't even speak for himself anymore; the Kyodai no Akuma was now in complete control. _What's happening to me?_ Mitsuhiro tried to move his foot forward so that he could walk, but it was no use. The Kyodai no Akuma's Soul had finally completely swallowed Mitsuhiro's Soul.

Mitsuhiro, no longer in control of his body, ran towards the huge window, and leaped out, shattering the window into a million pieces. He landed on the roof, and began jumping across the rooftops and bridges around the castle, the thorns and shadows following his shadow covered body. The only part of his body that could really be seen were his glowing red eyes. He had completely become the Kyodai no Akuma.

The long thorny vines followed him closely as he leaped across the rooftops, quite a few of them spinning around his arms.

"Mitsuhiro!" he heard a familiar voice call. He stopped, becoming sane for a split second to see who it was. He turned around to see Uzuki Kasahara standing across from him on another roof, her scythe in her hands. She was shaking as she stared at her possessed best friend, his red eyes looming into her black eyes.

"W-What's happened to you?" she stammered in fear, nervously staring at the monster in front of her.

Mitsuhiro didn't respond. He stood like a statue, glaring back at her. The shadows and thorns around him remained motionless.

Uzuki gripped the scythe in her hands, and swallowed, trying to get rid of the fear in her mind._ It's still Mitsuhiro. . ._ she thought to herself. _It's still the same Mitsuhiro that you work with everyday. . . the same Mitsuhiro that taught you nearly everything you know about fighting. . ._

Uzuki lifted her scythe higher, preparing for battle. Mitsuhiro immediately took her weapon as a threat, and charged at her, shadows falling from his body with each quick step. He held his hand out as he ran, a thin black sword appearing from the shadows around him. He gripped the sword and attacked her, Uzuki quickly bringing up her scythe's blade to block his strike. She didn't realize, however, how strong Mitsuhiro's sword was, and she nearly ended up losing her grip on the block. She jumped back, not wanting to get any closer to his blade.

"Mitsuhiro, listen to me!" she yelled. "Wake up! Please!"

Mitsuhiro let out a demonic screech, revealing the extremely long and sharp fangs that gathered all around his mouth, including the front.

_I gotta know what I'm up against here. . ._ Uzuki thought to herself, hesitating to read his aura._ But. . . his aura is too scary to look at it. . . I have no choice though, I need to know if he's really the Kyodai no Akuma or not. . ._ Uzuki widened her eyes, the pupils in her eyes changing to large rings. She began to shake in fear again as she stared at his new aura. The black spike-covered sphere floated around his body, thorns that she hadn't seen before tightly wrapped around it like a chain, forming an 'x' in the front. What scared her was that she couldn't see Mitsuhiro's own aura at all. His Soul was completely gone. . .

Uzuki suddenly felt weak. If his Soul was gone, then that meant there would be no way of getting him back.

_No, stop thinking like that, Uzuki!_ she thought as she gripped her scythe again, getting ready to take the Kyodai no Akuma down. _You just have to separate the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul away from Mitsuhiro's body. . . ugh, easier said than done! I've never tried that technique yet!_

Without thinking first, Uzuki leaped at him with her scythe raised high in the air, the golden light in the sky reflecting like a bright sunrise off the black and red blade. As she landed, Uzuki swung her scythe at Mitsuhiro.

Mitsuhiro hissed at her and began dodging her fast curved blade, each one of his dodges causing him to be swallowed up in a sea of shadows, which confused Uzuki. He would leap out at her from the shadows, causing her to quickly react without and seconds thoughts as to what she was doing, and she would block. He struck with his shadow-covered hands now, and the shadows had morphed them so much that they almost looked like long claws.

Mitsuhiro swung his claw-like hands at her, and she blocked. He continued to strike her, and she continued to block, until she found herself jumping back from his quick attacks. She continued to block and jump away, but she knew she was running out of room to run to. And Mitsuhiro was getting stronger every time he struck down at her weapon.

As Uzuki's foot hit the edge of the roof, she swung her scythe downwards, striking the blade into the wall of the building. When Mitsuhiro attacked again, she swung herself down, landing on the balcony below.

_Thank the Goddess Din that was there,_ she thought as she looked back up at Mitsuhiro on the roof. He saw her, but he stayed up on the roof, waiting for her to attack first.

_What do I do?_ Uzuki thought. If I try to escape, he'll have the upper advantage. . . but if I stay here I'll never be able to stop him! And a Reaper from the Society could find me hiding up here!

Uzuki looked at her scythe. She sighed in defeat, and then placed it on the floor.

"Here goes nothing. . ." she said quietly to herself. She pulled out a packet of white sand from the bag tied to her belt. She began to make pentagram designs on the floor of the balcony, quickly so that she wouldn't be found before she was finished. She placed the end of the handle of her scythe against the small circle in the middle of the design.

Uzuki placed her finger against the tip of the scythe, and cut her skin a little, just enough so that she would bleed. She spread a line of blood down the side of the blade of her scythe. The pentagram design around her began to glow, and the light spread up to her weapon. The light shone for a few seconds before flashing and then disappearing, the design below Uzuki's feet disappearing with it.

Uzuki looked at her new scythe. The handle was crooked and white, and it looked like a spider web when it met the new white blade. The blade was bigger, and it had three more smaller spikes that spread out from the end of the handle at the back of the blade.

Uzuki gripped her new weapon, and then took a deep breath, preparing herself for the battle ahead, a battle that she hoped would be the final one against the Kyodai no Akuma.

_Link, if you're out there. . ._ she thought to herself. _Then please, get over here! I need your help. . ._

**

* * *

**

Chapter 40: To Each His Own End

Yashiro, Shuto and I finally made it to the Society's castle.

"This place is huge!" I exclaimed. It was the first time I was ever this close up to the castle. It was three times the size as Hyrule Castle. The towers soared up as far as the eye could see, and there were bridges connecting the many pillars and buildings.

"Admire it later Link!" Yashiro growled as she grabbed my arm and pulled me around to a hiding spot. "We can't let ourselves be seen right now! We're in enemy territory!"

Shuto pulled out his C.T. crystal. He had been trying to contact Uzuki for the past twenty minutes, but she never responded.

"Wait, don't do that!" Yashiro hissed at him. "Any C.T. crystal within a five foot radius of this place will be picked up on the Society's computer if you turn it on!"

"Whoops, sorry," Shuto apologized, taking his thumb off the crystal without turning it on.

I heard a loud shriek.

It sounded evil.

It sounded psychotic.

It sounded like Mitsuhiro.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked.

"What was it?" Yashiro asked me. Apparently I was the only one to pick up the sound because of my Hylian hearing.

"Follow me," I ordered. Sneaking into Hyrule Castle was one of the easiest things to do in the world. . . I was just hoping that it would be just as easy to sneak into the Society's Castle, one of the bigest castles I had ever seen in my life.

Yashiro pulled out her kunai gun and aimed it at the guards. She pulled the trigger twice, releasing two kunais. They soared towards the men, and before they knew it, they were lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, the kunais sticking into their chests. As we ran by them, I noticed that the kunais had light seals wrapped around them. Those two guards were probably dead.

I approached a wall, rubbed my hands together confidently, and then began climbing up the wall with my Soul. I was left behind by Shuto and Yashiro though, who simply decided to fly up.

_Man, I wish I could fly!_ I thought angrily as I hurried up the wall to catch up with the two.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Kon set down the fifteenth volume of his favorite manga on the stack of mangas he had finished. He had been doing nothing but reading mangas ever since Link and the rest of the group had left.

"Aw man, I can't believe they left me here all alone. . ." Kon sighed as he pulled the sixteenth manga out from the box. Miu curled up next to him on the couch. "What do you think Miu?"

She meowed in response.

"Man, I wish you could talk. You're the only person I'd want to talk to if you could. . ."

Miu leaned against his chest, purring loudly, and then curled up on his lap.

After a few minutes of reading, Kon heard a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" he asked himself as he got up from the couch. _It can't be the group. . . _he thought. _They don't need to knock. . . I've got a bad feeling about this. . ._

Kon cautiously crept towards the door, and then gently grabbed the knob. He turned the knob slowly at first, and then he pulled the door open, hoping to catch who it was in surprise.

But there was no one there.

"What? I could have sworn I heard someone knock on the door. . ." Kon muttered to himself. "Geez, I guess it's getting so quiet around here that I'm starting to–" He heard a loud cat hiss from the living room. He knew he heard that. He slammed the door shut and then ran back out to the living room. Miu's back was arched up, her fur standing up from her back in fear as she hissed at the man standing in front of the window. His back was faced towards Kon. He was wearing what looked like a tuxedo.

"W-Who are you?" Kon asked nervously. He wanted to run, but he had made a solemn oath to himself that he would protect the house at all costs.

The man lifted one of his pale hands, and placed his sharp claw-like fingernail against the window. He began to slowly drag his nail down the glass, creating a sharp shrieking noise. Kon plugged his ears, the sound enhanced because of his Hylian hearing senses.

When the man was finished dragging his nails through the glass, he turned around to face Kon.

"M-Mitsuhiro?" Kon stammered. "What happened to you?"

Mitsuhiro grinned, two rows of sharp thin fangs being revealed.

_No, this can't be Mitsuhiro!_ Kon thought. _I've gotta get out of here!_

"I can't let you live, Kon," he hissed. "I'm going to have to kill you."

_What? He knows my name? But it can't be him!_

The man reached into the shadows surrounding his body, and then from the darkness, he pulled out a thin black blade.

"Goodbye," the man laughed psychotically before charging at Kon.

Makoto pulled the trigger again, firing another bullet into the scarecrow target. He smirked as he reloaded the gun with more bullets.

"Makoto, you've been at this all day," the large man muttered. "You shouldn't overwork yourself. . ."

"Taishou, I've told you before, there's a man I have to kill. . ." Makoto said in a low voice as he finished reloading his gun. He aimed the gun back at the scarecrow. "When I find him, I'm going to shoot him straight through the head." He pulled the trigger, a bullet flying straight through the bulls eye on the scarecrow's face. The wood target shattered into tiny pieces.

"But I thought you already took care of him two years ago. . ."

"No, he had an accomplice. I saw her heal him and take him back to her world. Their kind is harder to kill than you might think. I've got to think of a new tactic. . ."

A loud shriek suddenly pierced through the entire forest. Makoto blinked, and then readied his handguns.

"Please tell me you heard that and that I'm not finally beginning my descent into madness. . ." Makoto muttered at Taishou.

"I think you passed that mark a long time ago Makoto," Taishou chuckled as he stood up, readying his fists.

Makoto held his guns out to the deep part of the forest, where he was sure he had heard the scream.

"You sure it wasn't just Rei or someone else from the group?" Taishou asked.

"No. . ." Makoto hissed. "This scream would only belong to that psycho-maniac. . . the same one who–"

"Hello."

Makoto spun around to see a tall man with black hair wearing a tuxedo. He immediately pulled the triggers on both his handguns, firing rapid bullets at the man.

"Dammit! To think I let you sneak up on me so easily!" Makoto hissed. The man didn't seem affected by the bullets. Instead they seemed to be absorbed into the shadows floating around him.

"What the hell is he?" Taishou yelled.

"Taishou, I think that might actually be Mitsuhiro Minamimoto. . ." Makoto said in awe as he stared at the man wearing the tuxedo. "He looks the exact same. . . but what happened to his face?" He saw a large black 'x' painted across the man's face. Thorn designs were painted down his neck. There were also multiple thorns floating around his body.

"H-He's not human, that's for sure. . ." Taishou said in a low voice.

"He never was human to begin with, Taishou," Makoto corrected as he readied his handguns. "I'm finally going to take this bastard down." He held the handguns out, and pulled the triggers.

Zelda walked down the pavement of Hyrule Castle Town, Zero floating behind her every step of the way.

"So you're visiting Yuuki-chan and Vincent-kun today?" Zero asked.

"Actually, I just need to get some fresh air," Zelda sighed. "Things have been getting weird all over."

"What about that woman you met the other day? What are you going to do about her?"

Zelda thought back to the previous day, when she had ran into the woman who appeared to be from the Dark Realm.

"_Sick of being on the sidelines, eh Zelda?"_

"_What? Who are you?"_

"_My name is Mimitra Takumi. I want to help you."_

"She seemed awfully suspicious to me," Zero giggled. "But she offered to teach you the ways of fighting. . . seems like a pretty good deal, considering she didn't ask for anything in return."

"Hm. . . I guess you're right, but it's still too weird. . . I mean, why me? What's so special about my fighting skills all of a sudden?"

"Well, the girl did warn you of terrible things to come. . ."

Zelda sighed and buttoned up her trench coat. "Zero, do you think the land of Hyrule is going to be peaceful like this for much longer?"

Zero floated up next to her, a concerned look on her face. "I don't know. Things have been getting messed up all over the place. . . Link is fighting with the Reapers, and now you've been offered a chance to get stronger. . ."

Zelda clenched the heart locket around her neck. "I wish I could see Link again. . . But it would be nice to get stronger for the next time I could see him, so that–"

"Hello."

Zelda shrieked in fear, and spun around to see a man in a tuxedo standing at the end of the alleyway.

"W-Who are you?" Zelda stammered nervously. She really wanted to turn around and run for her life. "What do you want with me?" She started to back up. If there was any chance for her to be stronger, it was right now. Zero remained close to Zelda in case the man was dangerous.

The man just stood there, his pale head tilted a little as he stared her down.

_There's something really familiar about this man_. . . Zelda thought. Then she immediately remembered the man who had helped her and Link rid the castle of the Reapers, the man who claimed to be a Reaper himself.

_Is that really him?_ She thought. _But. . . what's happened to him? _She saw the shadows rising up from his feet, and the black 'x' painted right across his face, the thorn designs woven around his neck.

She continued to back away, and the man continued to stare her down, not moving at all. Finally at the point of screaming in pure fear, Zelda spun around and ran down the alleyway, leaving him behind.

_Just keep running, and he won't catch you. . ._ she thought to herself as she ran faster and faster. _Just keep running, and he won't catch you. . . Just keep running. . . _

**

* * *

**

Chapter 40 (continued)

We ran across the building rooftops, trying to find the source of the terrible scream. It was really starting to bug me, and I was anxious to get rid of it as soon as possible. I already knew though. . . there was a part of me that knew that it was Mitsuhiro. It couldn't be anyone else. . .

"Look, there they are!" Yashiro finally said, pointing at Mitsuhiro, who appeared to already be fighting someone. I saw a curved blade swing through the air. It was definitely Uzuki fighting him. But her scythe looked different. . . it was white, and the handle was extremely crooked. I had no idea where she had got it, or even _how_ she had got it for that matter. But all I was worried about was Mitsuhiro. I could tell that he wasn't himself anymore. His entire body was immersed in darkness, so he looked like a giant human-shaped shadow that acted on its own. And floating around him were long thin vines that had thorns growing out of them. The thorns looked a lot like the designs that were on his arms from the seal Uzuki had placed on him.

Uzuki soon ran from him, and she came towards us.

"Yashiro, Shuto, I want you two to stay out of this fight," she told us.

"What? But Uzuki, we need to help!" Yashiro objected.

"Yeah, we're a team!" Shuto added. "You need our help!"

"This isn't my fight either!" Uzuki placed her hand on my head. "This is Link's fight. The only way to kill a demon is to be pierced by the blade of another demon. . . Link is the only demon we know who will work with us. . ."

"Wait, what about Dex?" I asked. "He can do it! He's stronger than I am!"

"Dex was a traitor the entire time. No. . . he was a _coward_. I got rid of him last night. He's probably with the Society right now."

"Dex. . . betrayed us?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so. But we don't need him. We have you."

I pulled out Mitsuhiro's headband from the pouch attached to my belt. I looked at the 'x' that was cutting through the Triforce. Everything that had happened. . . my awakening, my first battle with Mitsuhiro, the twilight, the fire in Lon Lon Ranch. . . _everything_ that we had ever done was an experiment created by the Society, so that they could awaken Mitsuhiro's inner demon, the Kyodai no Akuma. All of this was just a silly little experiment. . . could I bring that experiment to a falling end? Could I make the Society fail?

I took a deep breath, and then looked at Uzuki. "So what's the plan, Uzuki?"

She held her scythe towards me. "I've tainted my scythe with my black blood. . . and I've also put a seal on it. I need you to fight Mitsuhiro, keep him occupied. When the time is right, I'll take my scythe and slice the monster in half. . ."

"Wait, won't that kill him?" Shuto interrupted.

"Mitsuhiro's Soul is still trapped inside his body. I can still see it though, which means it's still alive. If I can slice Mitsuhiro in two, then it will take the both of us to the inner world of his Soul, where I can finish the Kyodai no Akuma off for good. . ."

"Do you think you can handle it on your own?" I asked.

"I'm the second member of the Time Keepers for a reason, Link," Uzuki said softly. "I've been fighting my entire life. . . people have always underestimated me, even Mitsuhiro. It's about time that I fix this terrible mistake. . ."

I smiled at her. "Then I'm not going to question you anymore about it. I'll fight Mitsuhiro, and then you do whatever you need to do to stop the Kyodai no Akuma from taking him over anymore."

Uzuki smiled back. We both turned to face Mitsuhiro, who was standing completely still, staring at us with his black eyes.

"Mitsuhiro. . . I really wish that I could have helped him earlier. . ." Uzuki said quietly. "Those drawings that are on my wall. . . he drew them as a map, in case something like this ever arose. . ."

I nodded. "But what about the poem?"

"It was also a map," Uzuki replied. "It was a code, to tell me where he would be the moment he transformed." She smiled. "Death, death, by the second. . . he sees me coming. In the trees. . . meeting and laughing at me from behind the houses. . . with the little children giggling with me in the world known as Death. . . Leave me in my sanctuary, alone in the dark. . .so that we can live peacefully, under the watchful eye of the demon."

"What does it mean?" I asked curiously.

"Remember those words that were capitalized?"

"Yes."

"If you were to read only the words that were capitalized, it would have said, 'Meet me, sanctuary, dark, demon.'."

"Meet me in the Dark Realm Sanctuary. The demon has awoken. . ." I quoted.

"Exactly."

". . .So. . . why were those drawings hanging up in your room, and not his?"

"To protect the code," Uzuki answered. "Had he been possessed in his own room, he would have torn those papers up to shreds to leave behind no evidence. So he gave them to me to prevent that from happening. That's one of two reasons why. . ."

"What's the second reason?"

". . .Mitsuhiro is afraid of the demon. He doesn't like those drawings at all, and he couldn't stand to see them hanging up on his wall. So I offered to take them and hang them on my wall, so that he wouldn't suffer from the nightmares."

"Mitsuhiro told me that you get scared easily."

"I do. But it's better off if I'm having the nightmares and not him. I never wanted things to end this way. . . I do get scared easily, but that's exactly why I took the drawings. I was scared of losing him."

"Are you scared now?" I asked, smiling at her.

"I'm petrified," Uzuki said, smiling back.

I looked forward at the man standing across from us, the shadows underneath growing larger and larger.

"Tell me, Uzuki. . . what do you see right now?" I asked.

"I see. . . a scared little Soul hiding within the depths of a monster's Soul, afraid of being eaten." Uzuki lifted her scythe. "Link, promise me that we'll get that scared little Soul back. . ."

"I promise." I pulled my sword out from its sheath.

Uzuki looked at me, a big grin on her face. "Ready?"

"Ready."

And we gave each other a knuckle touch before walking into the final battle.


	41. Leave Me in My Sanctuary

Hey everyone,

Wow, these chapters sure are getting long huh? This chapter is a freakin' MONSTER! I guess the chapters will be pretty long for this story arc, but after this, they'll start to die down again... there are a few parts to this battle between Link and Mitsuhiro. The first part is called Sanctuary of Madness and, well, you'll just have to wait and see what the next chapter is called! Enjoy, and please R&R!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 41: Leave Me in My Sanctuary** **(Sanctuary of Madness)**

Uzuki twisted herself around her scythe, dodging Mitsuhiro's thin black blade, which left me in a tight spot for getting hit. Mitsuhiro was fast now, and I meant _really _fast. I always used to watch him in amazement as he dodged the arrows from the arrow machine in the backyard, jumping and swerving around the arrows without breaking a sweat. . . but this was just insane. His body was more flexible now, almost to the point where the bones in his body were gone temporarily. And when he wasn't dodging with his boneless body, he was disappearing into a pool of darkness, sort of like Dex when I first fought him in the Water Temple. When he disappeared into the pool of darkness, Uzuki and I would end up guarding each other's backs, keeping an eye out for any signs of shadows. But it was nearly impossible because he was so fast. Uzuki was fast too, but her speed just didn't seem to match. Mitsuhiro's dodging was so loopy that it was unpredictable. It was sort of like he was drunk, but he wasn't. And every time Uzuki or I would think we caught him, he would find some way to strangely and unpredictably dodge and counter.

"Man, I've never been so pissed off before in my life!" Uzuki hissed.

"Calm down, we need to focus!" I yelled. "We need to see through his attacks!"

"That's impossible! His moves are too hard to predict!"

I looked down at my Triforce. It was glowing brightly.

"Uzuki, go wait over there," I muttered. "Let me handle this. I know exactly what to do."

She must have read my thoughts, because she quickly understood. "Be careful Link. . ." She backed away, jumping onto a different roof.

I looked back at the demon, a smile on my face. "You piss me off so much, you know that?" I asked the demon. "You constantly pick on me, you train me like it was some kind of joke, and I'm always considered the 'runt' of the group to you."

He tilted his head in wonder at me.

"For some reason, you only go to Uzuki with your problems, and you ignore the rest of your friends. . . you're always saying how I can't do anything right, that I'm a screw-up; that'll I'll never amount to anything."

I slid the tip of my sword against the roof. I had to be as unpredictable as he was. . . which meant I had to be as crazy as he was.

"However, no matter how much you tease me about my inability to fight, I find that you constantly think about how I'm the Hero of Time, the strongest person in Hyrule. And then you remember that I'm the one who can control time to my every whim, and I don't end up stealing it from someone."

He frowned at me, the fangs revealing themselves from his mouth.

"You are a crazy kind of dude. . . you've turned your back to the world, and you forget about all the bad things you've ever done. . . only to be reminded that you yourself are already a monster in your own special way. . ."

He began to approach me, a killing look in his eyes. We slowly walked towards each other, the same look both reflecting in our expressions.

_

* * *

_

. . .Where am I?

_. . .Am I dead?_

_This place, these sounds, these very same corridors. . . I've been here before. . . although it feels like it's been a very long time. Years almost. . . maybe it has been years since the last time I've been here. It feels just like yesterday though. . . I'm so confused I don't even care. . ._

_I look down at my feet that are sloshing through the clear water. The floor is a stained-rusted kind of color, making the water look like gold. Twilight is rising from the ground, each piece flowing out from the floor as if it were melting wax, and it melts back into the ceiling again._

_I continue to travel down this narrow, endless corridor, until I come across a dead end, a wall completely formed out of long metal bars. The bars travel all the way from the floor to the ceiling, making it look like a giant jail cell. A gigantic chain is fastened around the bars like ribbons, finally interlocking together at a giant metal lock, a keyhole in the center._

_I can hear breathing._

_I've heard this before. I've seen it before. I've been here before._

_I hesitate, but then I decide to walk up to the giant cage. I peer into the endless abyss beyond it, but I can't see anything. It's like cave darkness._

_I flinch when the water behind the bars starts to move, spinning around like a gigantic whirlpool. I consider running, but I already know that attempt will get me nowhere. So, I stand and watch the magnificent spray of water, until it dims down back into the golden water below._

_When the whirlpool is no more, there's a man standing in its place._

_He's tall, with long black hair and yellow eyes that would belong to a cat. Surrounding his yellow irises are black circles, making him look even more like a cat of some sort. He's wearing a black robe, which turns to a strange shade of grey once they hit the end of the robe and the ends of the billowing sleeves, almost like they're fading away. Even his black shoes appear to be fading away at the heels. His black hair is tied into a long ponytail, and his eyes can barely be seen beneath his long bangs. Black lines – ones that are similar to my scar – are marking the left and right side of his face, like war paint. He's clearly older than me, how much older I'm unsure of. Seventeen? Maybe eighteen? I also can't help but notice the large sheath that's tied around his shoulder, the end of the sheath traveling beyond his knees. And as I stare even harder into the abyss, I can see that he has black wings, like Reaper wings almost._

_The man smiles an evil smile at me, revealing a mouth filled with sharp cornered fangs. He must be a Reaper. But his face strikes quite a resemblance to somebody I already know. . . somebody I obviously haven't seen in years. Had this been a normal situation, I would have been able to remember his name. But now my memory is like a blank slate, everything gone from me._

_The man laughs after first licking his lips with his sharp grey tongue._

_"Back again, eh kid?" he asks me. His voice is as sharp as his appearance. "Even after everything that's happened. . . you sure do need me more than you think, huh?"_

_"Who are you?" I ask nervously. Staring into his yellow cat eyes is like staring into the future itself. All I see is devastation._

_"You forgot me already?" he yells, raising his ice-cold voice. "What's wrong with you? How could you forget a person like me?"_

_I shake my head at his remark. I want to remember, I really do. . . but something's preventing me from doing that._

_"What do you want anyways?"_

_"I-I don't know. . ." I reply. Which raises the question: why am I here? What was my goal in the first place? What had I done to get in this situation? And how could I get out? I really wish I could remember. . ._

_". . .Well, you seem to be in quite a jam with this Mitsuhiro guy. . ." the man sighs. "The Kyodai no Akuma. . . man, do I want to beat the hell out of that bastard. . ."_

_I suddenly remember what I was doing. I was fighting against Mitsuhiro, wasn't I? But, how did I get here without Mitsuhiro and his demon coming too? What is this place?_

_"Now I know why you came here. . ." the man snickers. "You wanted my help, didn't you?"_

_". . .Wait, no, I-"_

_"Don't bother lying to yourself, kid! You brought yourself to this place so you could get a bit of my power so I could aid you in the fight!"_

_As much as I'd like to admit that he's right, I can't shake this feeling that what I'm doing isn't exactly good. . ._

_I sigh in defeat, and I nod. "I-I want to destroy the Kyodai no Akuma and save Mitsuhiro. . . but I can't do that unless I become as much of a demon as he is. . ."_

_I slowly approach the cage, and after taking a deep breath, I slide my right hand through one of the bars towards the man. The man who I finally know now is Dex._

_Dex, having a confused look on his face, looks at my hand, and then looks at me. We stare at each other for quite some time, until he looks at my hand again and clutches my wrist with his bony hand, his thin fingers wrapping tightly around my wrist. He looks at me one more time, as if asking me if I was sure of what I wanted to do, and he pulls me through the jail cell bars, my body going through like I was completely invisible. I'm in complete darkness now. I can feel Dex's hand loosen on my wrist, until I feel that his hand is gone. I look around, unsure of what to do next, until I feel a heavy shove on my back. I fall forward, unable to stop myself from falling through the darkness. . ._

_Soon, I find myself falling through the sky, the darkness disappearing from above me. Everything seems so real; I watch the clouds zoom by as I fall farther and farther, and I see the fog below, unable to see the ground appearing._

_I look to my left to see a shadow flying next to me, but it's too far away for me to touch it. It's like a giant black cloud, its shadows billowing around it like an upside-down tornado._

_The shadows begin to disappear, until I can clearly see that it's a person underneath. He's wearing a tuxedo, and he has long black hair that travels down to his shoulders._

_I keep watching him, until I finally decide that I'll be falling forever. I turn my neck back to look down, and I see an ocean, with black water, making it hard to tell if it's shallow or not. . ._

_I close my eyes, until my body falls into the water with a loud __slap. I can't float. I can't open my eyes. All I can do is wait. The water is warm, and comforting, even as I sink down to the bottom._

_Finally at my wit's end, I open my eyes slightly, and look next to me, where the man is floating right beside me. He appears to be sleeping. I look to my left, and I see a woman, who looks to be about two years younger than me. She has long brown hair, and her eyes are closed, her body in such a position that she also appears to be sleeping. She's wearing a dress, a dress that only the Princess Zelda would wear. . ._

_I reach my hands out to both of them, wanting them to wake up from this nightmare so that I can wake up, but the moment I touch them, they disappear into dust, the colorful mist disappearing into the ocean, leaving me all alone in the water._

_I'm all alone._

_Forever._

* * *

Mitsuhiro and I stared each other down as we got closer and closer to each other. I had nearly forgotten what I was doing. . . no, I still didn't know what I was doing. I was asleep. At least, my mind was. My mind was asleep, and it belonged to Dex now.

I readied my sword, and he readied his.

I stood directly in front of Mitsuhiro, staring up into his black shadow-covered eyes.

"Hello Mitsuhiro," I said in a drowned tone. I smiled at him, revealing a smile filled with fangs.

He didn't respond.

"Hello Mitsuhiro," I said again, sounding even more drowned. "Let's play a game. Who's the craziest of the two of us? You? Or me. . .?"

He smiled, the rows of fangs lifting themselves from his mouth like sharpened white pillars.

". . .Hello Mitsuhiro. . ." I giggled in an airy musical tone. ". . .Your turn first. . ."

**

* * *

**

A Very Short Interlude

Yashiro sat on the rooftop, watching Mitsuhiro and Link stand directly in front of each other, their eyes both filled with the look of insanity and their smiles both as insane as their minds.

"What do you think is going on over there?" Shuto asked her.

"Beats me. . . one thing's for sure, this is definitely not a battle I want to get involved in. . ." Yashiro muttered. "It's getting too crazy out there. . ."

"Do you think Uzuki and Link will be able to save him?"

"Again, I don't know. . . we'll just have to wait an see, won't we?"

Shuto smiled, and leaned forward to watch the battle. "This is going to be fun indeed."

Uzuki stared at Link, knowing he was going to rely on insanity alone to win the fight.

"Be careful, Link. . ." she muttered to herself. She looked at the blade of her scythe, where she could see herself reflecting back at her where there wasn't blood lining the blade. "Insanity does weird things to people. . ."

**

* * *

**

Chapter 41 (continued)

Mitsuhiro threw his claw-like fist at me. Feeling as loopy as I was, I swung myself out of the way like a drunk person. Of course, this wasn't me in control of my body. . . I felt like Dex had taken over my mind now.

". . . Hello Mitsuhiro. . ." I giggled again for the fourth time. "Oops, you missed. . . my turn. . ." I swung my sword like it was the heaviest thing in the world, wearily lifting it back up and balancing it back on my shoulders. I swung at Mitsuhiro continuously, and I could tell he was getting fed up with my unpredictability.

". . . Please, Mitsuhiro, make this game fun. . ." I giggled as I swung my sword again. "At least talk or something. . . it's no fun playing with someone who doesn't like to talk. . ." He finally managed to stop my blade.

He hissed at me, and punched me in the stomach. I laughed as I fell back onto the roof.

"Ow, that hurt. . .!" I laughed as I stood up and grabbed my sword again. "Nice punch. . .!" I put my sword back into its sheath again. "Now let me try!" I started to attack him with my hands, my moves weird and scattered all over the place. Mitsuhiro managed to dodge a few of them, but thanks to my new ability, I managed to counter and strike him in the stomach, using the same technique that Uzuki always used. Blood spilled out from Mitsuhiro's mouth because of the force I had put to his stomach. He fell onto his back, the blood rising up from his mouth.

". . .Talk to me. . ." I cried as I approached him again. ". . .It's no fun when you don't even tell me what you want to say. . ."

Mitsuhiro crawled up to his hands and knees. He glared up at me.

"You. . . piece of crap. . .!" Mitsuhiro laughed psychotically as he brought his fist to my face. I fell back from the impact, but I looped back again, striking him in the face too.

"Haha, this is fun!" I cheered. We both fought each other with our hands, our moves loopy and scattered. It was hard to even tell what I was doing at the time. All I ever remembered was hitting him. Everything in between was so weird that I couldn't even try to remember.

_Kill him! Kill the damn bastard!_ I thought. Great, my schizophrenic friend was back again. But then again, I had asked him to come here. I was completely Dex now; at least, that's what it felt like.

_Dex?_ I thought. It was hard to get my thoughts through to him because I wasn't exactly 'me' anymore. _Even after betraying us and everything, thanks for the help. Although you've managed to make me go completely insane. . ._

_You asked for it. Now let me take care of this fight._

_I'm the one who wants to fight Mitsuhiro though. . . could you at least let me have a tiny bit of my sanity? Just enough so that it's actually me fighting and not you?_

He sighed. _Fine, if you want. . ._

_One more thing. . . I want to beat Mitsuhiro this time, with all the power I have. . . so don't hold back, alright?_

_It could end up killing you._

_I don't care. Just do it._

Dex didn't reply. I took it that he gave in. My heart began to pound again, the pounding that I knew wouldn't give up until I finished battling Mitsuhiro. I examined my hands, and watched as the twilight markings began to grow over my skin like moving tattoos. They were like Mitsuhiro's thorn designs, only they were twilight squares and rectangles instead, and some of them were a glowing red. The twilight wrapped around my fingers and legs, and crawled up my face. Shadows began to form beneath my feet, and they soon grew around me like thick black clouds, covering over the twilight on my arms and face. My entire body soon became engulfed in the shadows, until I looked nearly exactly like Mitsuhiro. The only difference was that the shadows faded away at my shoulders, feet, and face, and a few of the red twilight squares glowed from beneath the shadows. My eyes had changed to a deathly black, and I could feel the fangs growing larger in my mouth. My sword was also covered in shadows, making it a sleek black color. My tunic was black now, my boots were black – my entire body was like a gigantic shadow. I noticed that there were black and red twilight squares floating around my shadow-covered body, like the thorns floating around Mitsuhiro.

I held the sword up, taunting Mitsuhiro to attack me. I tilted my neck to the side, making a cracking noise as I did it.

"Come and catch me. . .!" I laughed. I continued to laugh as Mitsuhiro charged at me with his sword held high.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Makoto shot more bullets at the man dressed in the tuxedo, but the bullets went straight through like his body was made of water.

"Dammit, it's not working!" Makoto yelled as he reloaded his handguns again.

Taishou leaped from behind the man and punched through his body with his iron fist, but like the bullets from Makoto's handguns, his hand went straight through. The man spun around to meet with Taishou and then pushed his hands into his chest, blowing the large Taishou back into a tree. The tree pushed down from his weight, and began to fall to the ground, its roots starting to lift from the dirt underneath.

"This thing is starting to piss me off Makoto!" Taishou growled as he lifted himself up from the ground. "I can't even pound this bastard's face in!"

Makoto nodded. "I know, I know! You think you're mad, I've been trying to kill this murderer for years! Now when he decides to fight me, no matter how hard I try, he just refuses to die!"

The man began walking towards Taishou. Taishou began backing up, not wanting the monster to get any closer.

"He's freaking me out Makoto!" Taishou hissed as he continued to back away. "Do something!"

Makoto pulled out a strange porcelain-crafted object. It was shaped like a small ocarina. He took a deep breath, and then blew into the nozzle at the top, releasing a shrill whistling noise. He took another deep breath, and then blew into it again, making another whistling noise. It was sharp, and nearly made his eardrums pop, but he knew that it was sure to get the rest of the group's attention.

Within seconds, four more people were surrounding them in the trees, all of them carrying a different set of weapons. A tall man with dark-brown hair jumped down from one of the trees. He was followed by a woman with blond hair, who was wearing dark gothic clothing. A taller man with orange-blond hair and wearing a long lab coat followed. The final person to jump down had spiky light brown hair, and he was wearing a jacket with a fur coat and a pair of ripped jeans. He had multiple strings tied around his fingers.

"You called us for this?" the woman sneered, pointing at the man in the tuxedo, who, by this time, had his head hanging down like he was asleep standing up. "It's probably just a lost little kid. . ." She giggled.

"Anything but a child!" Makoto objected. "This is Mitsuhiro Minamimoto. And killing him is impossible!"

"Nonsense," the girl giggled again. She drew a silver blade from the sheath attached to her belt, and then struck the man, but her blade went straight through. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then tried again. The blade went through again.

"Huh. . ." she gasped. "Amazing. Even my masamune can't strike through it. . ."

The tall man wearing the lab coat took out a blade from the sheath on his back. "Hm, Mitsuhiro Minamimoto. . . quite interesting, considering he died nearly three years ago. . ." He placed his blade on the man's back, and then cut his blade straight through his body. Like everyone else's weapons, it went through like the man's body was made of water, and he didn't seem affected at all.

The man suddenly smiled, multiple fangs growing from his mouth. He pulled out a black blade, and held it up, asking the group for a fight.

"This isn't fair!" the girl exclaimed.

Makoto reloaded his handguns, ready for the monster that was coming his way.

* * *

Zelda ran down the alleyway, hoping to get back to the castle soon, but no matter how fast she ran, she only found herself in the same spot over and over again.

"We ran past this house fifteen times now!" Zero hissed. "I'm seriously freaking out! Stop joking around and head back to the castle already!"

"I'm trying!" Zelda argued. "But I can't even get back to the secret passage! I just keep running through the same alleyway!"

Zero jumped out from Zelda's shadow and began to look around. She looked up at the sky, and then at the buildings surrounding them.

"Uh oh. . ." she muttered to herself.

"What? What's wrong?" Zelda asked worriedly.

"Zelda, I think that guy we ran into back there may have put us under a sub-dimensional hold. . ."

Zelda bit her lip. "What does that mean?" she regretfully asked in panicked tone.

"It means we're stuck in this same spot! Time doesn't move here! We're not even in Hyrule anymore! We're in a sub-dimensional hold here, which means we've been cut off from the real world and sent here. . . it's a way to trap victims and confuse them."

"Which means. . .?"

"We're stuck here! Like rats! Until we get rid of the person putting this spell over our heads!"

Zelda let out a panicked cry. "No, we can't be stuck here! I have to get back!" She began to run down the alleyway, but in a split second she found herself back in the same spot.

"See? Stuck," Zero said in a I-told-you-so sort of way.

Zelda quickly turned around, and was once again faced by the man wearing the tuxedo.

_This is only a dream. . ._ she thought as she stared wide-eyed at the creepy man. _Only a dream, only a dream. . . Goddess Din, please let it be a dream!_ She even pinched herself hard, but she became really terrified when she realized that she didn't wake up.

"I can't run. . ." she cried to herself. "I can't fight. . . I can't do anything. . . Zero, what am I going to do?" She looked at the Twili standing next to her.

"We're just going to have to wait until the person responsible for this is stopped. . ." she replied in a low voice.

Zelda lowered her head so that she wouldn't have to look into the eyes of the strange man. She figured that as long as she didn't look at him, it would be like he wasn't there.

But how long could she stay like that?

* * *

Kon jumped back, avoiding another one of the man's attacks. He so desperately wanted to run, to get help, but who could he turn to? And even if he could go somewhere, that left the house unprotected. . . all he could do was hold off the man a little while longer. The kitchen table had been sliced in half by the man's sword, and the big window in the living room was shattered. There were cuts in the walls from the man's sharp blade, and the coffee table had also been cut into two. And no matter where he ran, even if he was a long way ahead of the man, he would always appear in the hallways like he was in a million places at once. Kon would jump six feet in the air in surprise and fear every time he thought he lost hte man and was greeted by him in a different hallway.

_The rest of the group is going to kill me when they get back!_ Kon thought as he jumped back from another one of the man's swift attacks. He was soon backed up against the counter in the kitchen. The man struck downwards at him again, and he swung out of the way, causing the blade to barely miss him and slice through the wooden counter. Kon ran around the man and back out into the dining area.

_Just gotta distract him a little while longer!_ Kon thought as he ran from the stranger. The man was scaring him though, and he didn't know how much longer he would last without tearing the whole house down to ruins.

Then an idea suddenly popped into his head.

Kon ran into the hallway, trying to outrun the man so he would have enough time. He ran into Link's room, tackling the wooden door open with his entire body. He staggered into the room, and his eyes locked onto the small sword that was hanging by the closet. Kon charged at it, and grabbed the handle, lifting it off the wall. It was heavier than he expected, but it was still good enough for him to use. The man was in the hallway now. Kon readied the sword, but before he attacked the man, he grabbed the small Deku Shield that was resting against the dresser.

_I really hope this will be enough_, Kon thought as he charged at the man with the tiny sword. He swung the sword like a dagger, but when he hit the man, the blade went straight through. The man looked at the spot where Kon's sword was bobbing through his skin, and then he took out his own blade and retaliated. Kon just managed to bring his shield up in time, but it didn't do very well. The worn out wood of the shield was nearly sliced in half from the sharp black blade.

"Oh, dammit!" Kon yelled, mostly in fear of the man's blade. He could tell that the blade would slice through more than just the shield if he let his guard down again. The man soon had him backed up against the dead end of the hallway. There was no other place to turn to, except for Mitsuhiro's room, but there was no way in hell Kon was going in there.

Kon looked at man, and swallowed in fear, waiting for the man's blade to pierce through him and kill him. He had to do something, but what could he do? He was trapped, stuck in a dead end!

"Dammit!" Kon cursed again, and struck his fist against the wall in anger.

_Identification verified_

"H-Huh?" Kon stammered at the voice that had suddenly spoken from the wall. The wall started to move, opening itself up like a door. "A hidden passegeway!" Kon exclaimed in wonder and confusion. He looked back at the man that was getting closer to him, and ran into the hidden room. It was dark inside, but when he took another step, the room suddenly lit up, bright white lights clearing out the darkness of the room. When he could see, Kon realized that the room was the size of a big closet, and hanging on the walls were weapons of all kinds. But they didn't look like the ordinary weapons he saw at Byrne's shop when he was in Clock Town... they were all made of metal, and wires and switches were covering them.

When he saw the man enter the room, Kon hastely grabbed a nearby weapon, which looked a lot like a staff, only it was made from some kind of metal material. He pressed one of the buttons on the handle, and three short dagger-like blades swung out from the top of the staff.

"Whoa!" Kon yelled. He looked at the weapon, and then looked at the man who had been haunting him all over the house for the past several hours. He smirked at him. "Payback time!" he declared, and charged at the man with the weapon.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 41 (continued)

Why was I having fun fighting Mitsuhiro?

This wasn't a laughing matter.

And yet I couldn't stop laughing.

I had gone _mad_.

This battle looked pretty crazy too. It was like watching two shadows fight against each other, and the human bodies were no longer in control. And as our swords clashed against each other's, more shadows would fall to the ground like rain. The thorns that were wrapped around Mitsuhiro's body followed his every movement, as did my twilight squares. Our swords could barely be seen as they hit against each other, each swing looking like a black blur.

Mitsuhiro blocked my blade again. I pushed it away, and then in a split second I jumped onto his still blocking blade and then onto his shoulders, pushing him down with my feet. He fell to the ground, but caught his balance and then was spun around and charging at me withing a second. Still flying through the air, I stuck my blade into the ground as I fell, and flipped around, landing on the handle of the sword. This thing was so big that it could support my own weight, and I wasn't that heavy either. I pulled out a shuriken from the twilight covered holster on my belt and threw it at Mitsuhiro. He didn't even both dodging, and the shuriken went straight through his body.

_Crap_, Dex hissed. _I guess his body is camouflaged so well with the shadows that it'll be hard to tell which part of him is actually him or not. . ._

Mitsuhiro charged at me with his sword, and before I could get off my sword and pull it out from the ground in time, he had sliced his blade straight through my arm. Half of my arm was covered in shadows, so the wound wasn't that bad, but it was still bad enough for me to fall off my sword in aganizing pain. I clutched my arm, trying to cover the blood.

I looked at the cut, and saw that it had amazingly healed beneath the shadows. Pain wasn't an obstacle for me anymore.

I jumped up from the ground and pulled my sword out from the roof of the castle. I charged at Mitsuhiro again, ready to attack. . .

. . .but he was too fast for me.

Before I could even start to swing my sword, he began slashing his sword across my body, the blade cutting through my skin like a ribbon. Blood gushed out from my body and my mouth, my skin being torn to pieces from his blade. Even in this state, my body wouldn't be able to heal from that. After he had finished slashing my body to pieces, Mitsuhiro punched me hard in the stomach, so hard that I could feel my ribs being crushed. Everything slowed after that. I felt my body slowly fall to the ground, my head hitting the roof hard, my vision blurring from the impact. I could see Mitsuhiro standing above me, the tip of his blade held to my chest and an evil grin stretching across his face.

I had lost.


	42. Find Me in My Sanctuary

Hey everyone,

Wow, another monster of a chapter. . . but if it gets this arc done faster, then we can get to the Adult Chapters faster, huh? Of course, I'm in no rush. I'm trying hard not to cry D: I don't want to stop writing this fanfiction, never ever ever. But until it ends, keep reading and reviewing, and please enjoy Chapter 42 of Time Gate.

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 42: Find Me in My Sanctuary (Sanctuary of Revival) **

I had lost.

This was the end of the battle, the time when I would finally meet my own end. Would I become a Reaper? Surely I would want revenge against Mitsuhiro for killing me. Maybe revenge against the Kyodai no Akuma. Either way, this was how I was going to die. My adventure would finally come to a close.

I looked up at Mitsuhiro, who was raising his blade, preparing to pierce it through my body and kill me.

Weird thoughts started to go through my head at that moment as time began to slow down.

I saw myself sitting on the swing in the park in Hyrule Castle Town, the place as deserted as it always was. I - or, the boy sitting on the swing - was looking down to the ground, his blond hair hanging down over his face. His movements were blurred together, like a video that was skipping because it wasn't taken proper care of.

After looking at myself for a few seconds, the image I was watching flickered, and I saw a man in a tuxedo standing next to the boy, his face pale and his eyes a deep black. His long black hair hung over his face, and he had his arms stuffed in his pockets.

_Dex?_ I thought as I stared into space. _What's happening to me. . .?_

_You've. . . finally descended into madness. You're gone, Link, _Dex told me.

I thought that this was strange. _How can I be gone. . . if I'm thinking?_

_You're trapped in the darkness, Link. You can fight and stuff, but your mind is in a state of sleep. _

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, and then I closed my eyes. _Then what are these images appearing in my head? Why has time suddenly slowed down? Is my mind trying to tell me something?_

_The Kyodai no Akuma is sending you messages to me, and they're being replayed through your head. The Kyodai no Akuma is the same type of demon as I am, so we can communicate. . . unfortunately, we're not as good friends as we are communicators. We've been enemies for years, ever since I was awakened in the Water Temple. And as for the time slowing down. . . I think the Goddess of Time is just giving you a little help. _

The image I had been looking at had flickered again, changing to an image of a man wearing a tuxedo. He standing in a golden meadow, and the sky was an even brighter gold than the grass. The man had long black hair that traveled to his shoulders, much like the man I had seen in the previous image.

I snapped my eyes open and saw Mitsuhiro's blade plunging down at me.

Right, I was going to die soon. I had been so caught up in my conversation with Dex and watching the images flash through my brain that I had totally forgotten that time had stopped and Mitsuhiro was still trying to kill me.

Either way, I wasn't going to live for much longer.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Uzuki gripped the handle of her scythe tightly.

"I can't watch this battle anymore!" she exclaimed. She jumped up from her sitting position on the roof, and without saying a word to Yashiro or Shuto, she charged into the battle headfirst, her scythe raised high in the air.

Shuto jumped to his feet. "Uzuki's right, Yashiro!" he said in determination as he pulled out his flute. "Link's going to get killed if we just sit here and watch!"

Yashiro was silent.

"Come on Yashiro, I need your help!"

Yashiro sighed. "As long as you're sure nothing bad will happen. . ."

Shuto looked down to his feet. "I'm not sure if we'll all live or not. But we have no choice. If we don't move now, Link will be killed."

Yashiro stood up from her spot on the roof, and then smiled at Shuto. She patted his head. "Alright, shrimp. Let's go help the kid." She reached her hand over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of her sword, pulling it from its sheath, its silver metal gleaming from the golden light of the Dark Realm sky.

Shuto smiled at her, and they both charged into the battle, following close behind Uzuki.

Uzuki charged at Mitsuhiro, who had now lowered his blade about a centimeter from Link's chest.

_He won't do it. . . _she thought. _He won't. . . he can't do it. . . Mitsuhiro is still in there. . ._ But when she saw his aura, the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul surrounding his body, she felt a hint of doubt. Mitsuhiro was long gone. . . but she still had to save him. She couldn't bear to think of the Time Keepers without him to lead them.

"MITSUHIRO!" Uzuki screamed at the top of her lungs as she reached him. She threw her scythe into the air, discarding it, and then leaped out at Mitsuhiro, her arms outstretched. Mitsuhiro started to turn towards her, realizing that she was there from her scream, but he couldn't even turn the handle of his sword before she tackled him, throwing both of them to the ground.

Mitsuhiro blinked in shock.

Something went through his head at that exact moment.

A memory.

_"UZUKI!" _

He had heard that exact scream a long time ago, except it was him, calling out to her. . . what had happened that day? It was. . . the day that he died.

It was also the day that Uzuki had died.

What had happened on that day? Uzuki never remembered her death, and everyone she knew was sworn to secrecy never to tell. . . and in the state he was in, Mitsuhiro couldn't quite remember either. He suddenly felt the power of his Soul well up a bit from inside him.

"Mitsuhiro, please, wake up!" Uzuki cried as she stared into his black eyes. He couldn't fight back. He stared back up at her, not moving.

Men in tuxedos - the same ones that had been haunting the people of Hyrule - began to grow from the shadows left behind on the roof, posing a threat for Shuto, Yashiro and Link. Shuto helped Link up from the ground, and gave him a bottle filled with red potion to heal his minor wounds. Link drank it down, and soon felt lighter, the burning feeling from his wounds disappearing. Half of the help came from the healing powers of the shadows that were surrounding him.

Uzuki stared down at Mitsuhiro and held his face in her hands. Tears began to stream down her face as she gazed into his black eyes.

"Please. . ." she cried. "I know you're still in there. . . please, wake up. . .!" He looked back at her, showing no emotion. He didn't even show a look of anger in his eyes. He could feel the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul falling down to a low level, his own Soul starting to appear again.

Uzuki saw his Soul reappearing. She smiled, happy that her friend was back.

_Don't let the woman get to you!_ the Kyodai no Akuma screamed inside Mitsuhiro's head.

"Mitsuhiro. . . a-are you alright?" Uzuki stammered.

Mitsuhiro looked up at her, unsure of what he was feeling. He could feel the Kyodai no Akuma constantly nagging at his mind.

_Don't let her stop you!_ the Kyodai no Akuma hissed. _Kill her! Kill her and her friends! You'll become stronger!_

Mitsuhiro began to breath heavily as he felt the Kyodai no Akuma chew on his mind and Soul again.

"Mitsuhiro!" Uzuki yelled. "Don't let him take you over again!"

Mitsuhiro screamed and began to fight back again, the shadow thorns regrowing around his body like actual plants. Uzuki jumped off, and grabbed her scythe that had been sitting alone on the roof. She waited for him to attack, but he didn't. Mitsuhiro was back on his feet again, but instead of attacking, he was looking down at his feet, his hair hanging over his face. His hands were tightened into tight fists, and the thorns that flew around him were calm.

"Mitsuhiro?" Uzuki asked quietly, trying hard not to upset him.

Mitsuhiro stared down at his feet, letting his mind and Soul shut down.

* * *

**Mitsuhiro's Point of View**

_I don't even know why I bother anymore._

_What's the point in having a second life if you're just going to fail at it again?_

_I'm a failure._

_"Feeling depressed, are we?" that familiar voice asks me. _

_I look up at the man who's leaning over the armchair, who's looking down at me with a sinister look. He's wearing a tuxedo, much like the tuxedo I'm wearing, only it has several rips along the left sleeve._

_"Why should you care?" I ask, gritting my teeth in anger. "All you want is a body so you can use your disgusting powers. . . you don't care how anyone feels, Kyodai no Akuma."_

_The Kyodai no Akuma smiles at me, and then walks ahead of me to the black piano that's sitting at the end of the room. He slides his bony fingers along the keys, feeling the clean surface of the instrument. I look around at the entire room. It's decorated to look fancy. There are velvet curtains hanging over the large windows, and the chair I'm sitting in is made from some sort of red regal fabric. The floor is decorated with a fuzzy carpet, and a diamond chandelier is hanging from the ceiling. _

_". . .Look, I don't care what kind of deal you're going to make with me today," I hiss at the monster who's strangely placing his hand in the air as if he were touching an invisible object. "Just put me back in my body so I can see Uzuki and the rest of the group! I'm sick and tired of your twisted games!"_

_The Kyodai no Akuma smirks at me. "Why would you want to meet up with Uzuki in your own body, my boy. . . when you can simply talk to her here, right now?" _

_I raise my eyebrow at his comment. Then I realize that the invisible object that he's placing his hand on is actually somebody's shoulder. He tips his head, motioning for me to come closer. Standing up from the chair, I make my way over to the Kyodai no Akuma and the strange figure who's sitting on the piano bench, who I now realize has been playing the piano this entire time. It's definitely a woman. . . she has pale skin, and dark black hair that falls to her shoulders. A long braid that's covered in a ribbon of bandages travels down from her neck to the floor. _

_The woman abruptly halts her piano playing and turns to me. _

_"Say hello, Uzuki," the Kyodai no Akuma snickers._

_"Hello, Mitsuhiro-kun," the woman says in a dead, cold voice. "What a lovely day to be seeing you today, is it not?"_

_"Uzuki?" I ask in shock. "How did you get here? Why are you dressed like that?" When I look at her now, I see that she's wearing some form of a tight black dress that has no straps and cuts off at her knees. The dress almost appears to be made of bandages, but it's hard to tell in this light. When the light shines on her, I can see that she has some kind of dragon tattoo on her arm. Her eyes are still the same though. _

_"What do you mean? I always look like this. . ." she says in her nostalgic rhythmic voice. "I've looked like this since I was reborn as a Reaper. . ."_

_I glare at the Kyodai no Akuma. ". . .Just what do you think you're doing, huh?"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just granting one of your wishes. You wanted to talk to Uzuki, so here she is."_

_"This isn't Uzuki. . ."_

_"What makes you say that?"_

_"Uzuki doesn't talk like this." I'm getting fed up by the demon's constant back-talk. _

_"This is what the Society intended for her to be like when she was reborn. Unfortunately, somebody got in the way of that. . . your pathetic little group of vermin."_

_I straighten my mouth into a tight line, and look at the Uzuki who claims to be exactly who she is. _

_"How did you get here?" I ask her again._

_"You brought me here," she mutters as she turns back towards the piano and begins to play a sad haunting tune, using only her right hand. I recognize the song from somewhere. . . but my brain is so scrambled that I can't even bother thinking about what it is or where I first heard it. _

_I sit down next to her on the piano bench, paying no mind to the Kyodai no Akuma, who's snapping his fingers to a terrible beat to the music. Uzuki doesn't look up at me. She just continues to watch her fingers hit the polished keys of the piano._

_"Um, Uzuki. . .? I know it's a little late for this, but I'm-"_

_"Sorry?" she interrupts me. I can tell that she's smirking at me. _

_"Uh, y-yeah."_

_"It's alright. . . I mean, it's not like it's your fault, right? This mess is all that demon's fault. . ." Her last sentence is whispered, like she's afraid the Kyodai no Akuma will hear her._

_"It doesn't matter. I nearly killed Shuto. . . and Link is nearly dead as it is. All of this is my fault because I didn't take care of this demon while it was still in its dormant state..."_

_Uzuki looks at me with a sincere look. "Don't feel bad about yourself. This is all just a problem that will be solved and washed over soon."_

_"How do you know that? What if I completely become the Kyodai no Akuma? What happens then? What if I kill-"_

_"Don't worry about it. You won't kill me." _

_I look at her with a serious look. She continues her piano playing, but she looks up at me as well. _

_"I saved you once from the Kyodai no Akuma," she tells me. "I can do it again."_

_"What do you plan on doing?" I ask._

_". . .I'm going to have to attempt to kill you, Mitsuhiro. . ." she says in a low voice so that the Kyodai no Akuma can't hear. He's not even in the room anymore._

_"W-What?" I ask nervously. I don't like the sound of this at all. I wanted to get rid of the Kyodai no Akuma, but I didn't want to have to die for it._

_"Mitsuhiro, do you realize that, right now, we're in our Soul berserker forms?" _

_I blink. "Y-Yeah."_

_"Right now, you're lying on the roof, and I'm sitting next to you. That's what our bodies are doing. Our Souls are sitting here, right at this very moment, having this conversation. But right now, your Soul has also been corrupted, by the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul. . ."_

_"Stop telling me things that I already know and get to the point already. . ."_

_Uzuki stops her piano playing. Then she grabs the sheet music that's sitting on the mantle and replaces the song with a different piece, this song composed of way more notes and sheets of paper. She begins to play it. It's extremely loud. Then she looks at me while she plays._

_"If he hears about my plan then it will not work," she hisses. Then I realize that the loud piano music is to block out our conversation from the Kyodai no Akuma's ears._

_". . .I'm going to separate your Soul from the Kyodai no Akuma's Soul," Uzuki whispers to me as she focuses her gaze to the piano keys and her hands._

_"How are you going to do that? By killing me?" I ask. _

_"My scythe. I can slice you in two. . . that way I can get your Soul and separate it from the demon's. I can get your body back to normal too, with a little bit of black magic. It'll be hard, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it. . ."_

_"Are you sure it will work?"_

_"I'm positive. But. . . I need to get your permission first. I can't force you to do it if you don't want to."_

_I think about it while I watch her play the piano at lightning speed. She says she's positive it will work. . . but the chance that it doesn't could leave me dead. But I would rather take a chance with that than to keep on living with the Kyodai no Akuma inside me. _

_I look back at Uzuki, who's playing even faster now. I place my hand on her shoulder, diverting her attention away from her hands and towards me._

_"Whatever you need to do to save me, please do it. . ." I say, trying not to choke on my own words. _

_Uzuki looks up at me with a sincere look, stopping her piano playing immediately. She places her right hand on my shoulder, and smiles at me. _

_". . .Mitsuhiro. . ." she says in a soft voice. ". . .Just don't die, okay? Promise me?"_

_I bite my lip for a split second, pondering over her question. Then I nod, and she hugs me, burying her face into my shoulder. Then she stands up, smiles at me one last time, and leaves the room, her long bandaged braid following behind her as quick as her piano playing had been. _

_After she's gone, I look at the Kyodai no Akuma, who's looking out the window and smiling to himself._

_Yeah. . ._

_. . .I promise._

**

* * *

**

Link's Point of View

I sliced my blade through another one of Mitsuhiro's scouts, but like all the others, my sword went straight through them. It was like these things were hallucinations. I had actually started to believe my theory that all of these monsters were just an illusion and that they couldn't harm us. Unfortunately, I was wrong. All of us - even Yashiro - got beat up pretty bad by these things. The only one who wasn't dealing with the scouts was Uzuki, because she was busy handling Mitsuhiro. I wished that I was the one fighting him. I wanted to show him how strong I really was. Instead I was wasting my time and my new abilities with Dex's power on these illusions that Mitsuhiro had sent out to distract us; illusions that would attack and kill unmercifully.

_I can't die now_, I thought as I slashed my huge black sword through another one of the creatures. _Not yet. I have to save Mitsuhiro. I'm not going to stop fighting until I do. . . _I leaped at one of the scouts and struck the blade straight through his body like I was swinging an axe, but, as always, it was no good.

The man I was fighting snapped his neck to the right, mocking me. I just couldn't shake these guys. . . I had to help Uzuki though. It was my job to defeat Mitsuhiro.

"Yashiro!" I yelled. She was doing the exact same thing I had been doing, and she was also failing miserably.

She raised her sword in front of her to block the scout's katana.

"You and Shuto take care of these things! I'll go help Uzuki!" I said.

Yashiro grunted and pushed one of the scouts back. "Hurry it up!" she groaned as she leaped at the man with her sword.

I backed up from the man, who seemed to pay no attention to my leaving, and then I ran to Uzuki, who was fighting with Mitsuhiro. Her scythe clanged against the shield of his Time Distorter, and he pushed her back, knocking her off balance. She was losing _bad_. She didn't have the same ability as me, so her power alone wasn't even half of what she needed to stand up to him.

I ran up next to Uzuki. "Tell me what's happening," I said calmly.

"He's not slowing down for anything. . ." Uzuki hissed. She sounded like she was in a lot of pain. Then I saw the huge gash that was on her chest. She was clutching it with her left hand and weakly grasping her scythe with her right hand.

"Are you going to be alright? Do you need to sit down?" I asked, staring at her wound.

"N-No, I'll be fine. . ." she gasped. "I can't back out of this fight. . ." She removed her hand from her wound, and readied her scythe again. "Let's go!" I could tell that she was desperately trying to hold back the pain, but it was easy to tell that she wouldn't be able to hold up the act much longer.

"Uzuki!" Yashiro screamed from the other side of the roof. "We've got company!"

We looked back to see that a member of the Society was standing across from Yashiro and Shuto, a wide black sword in their hands.

"Crap. . ." Uzuki hissed. "Yashiro, Shuto, you know what to do!"

Yashiro and Shuto nodded at us, and ran at the man who had appeared. They picked the perfect time to show up. . . of course, we were fighting on _their _castle, in _their _territory. We weren't supposed to be here.

"Who is that man?" I asked Uzuki as we both circled Mitsuhiro.

She looked at the man from the Society. He was somewhat tall, with red hair that was tied into a ponytail. His sword shimmered like glass in the light of the Dark Realm, and I could see chains wrapped around the handle.

"That's Saru, of the third division. . ." Uzuki said, her voice croaked with pain.

"Is he strong?"

"I've never seen his fighting skills before. . . he must be strong if he made it into the third division. . ."

_Perfect, just what we need,_ I thought angrily. _Dex, do you know anything about him?_

_Saru of the third division. . . _Dex pondered. _That's odd. Last time I checked Saru had disappeared from the Society. His partner was looking for him. . . what in the world is he doing here?_

_He's probably here to kill us. We're in the Society's territory._

_Yes, but Saru's never been the type to follow the rules. . . and he's not that strong either, as far as I know. _

_Will Yashiro and Shuto be able to handle him?_

_As long as nobody else shows up, then yes. But if we start attracting more attention here, we're done for._

I sighed. Things had just gotten more and more complicated.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Yashiro swung her kunai gun around her hand, taunting the man that had just appeared. She knew this man; he was the one that taught her and the rest of the Reapers about successfully pulling off missions. It was somewhat sad to see him trying to kill them now, especially after they had been such good friends.

"I heard quite a ruckus up here," Saru laughed. "I had no idea it was between you guys and that new demon guy."

Yashiro scowled at him. He never was the type to take anything seriously. She doubted that he'd even take their battle seriously.

Saru raised his hands in denial. "I'm not here to fight you. . ." he sighed, shaking his head. "I want to talk to Link-sama."

"Kill him is more like it," Yashiro growled.

"Oh, no, of course not, why would I want to do that?" the Reaper laughed. "I. . . admire Link. He's so strong, and yet he's just a child. . ."

"Cut the small talk, Saru!" Shuto yelled. "We all know why you're here!"

"Shut up, flute boy," Saru hissed. "I'm only here to speak with Link."

"He's busy," Yashiro replied, revealing a sarcastic smirk.

"Yes, I can see that. But that shouldn't make any difference. I wish to speak with him."

"You'll have to go through us first!" Shuto exclaimed.

Saru sighed and shrugged his shoulders, all while shaking his head in defeat. "I'm not asking for a battle, but. . ." He swung out the black sword that was attached to his robe, the chain wrapped around the handle and hitting the ground. ". . .I guess I have no choice, huh?"

"That's right. You don't," Yashiro muttered as she reloaded her kunai gun. Shuto lifted the mouthpiece of his flute to his lips, placing his fingers just above the keys so he would be ready to play.

"So misunderstood. . ." Saru cracked his neck once before charging at the two Time Keepers.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 42 (continued)

I ducked down as the blade of Uzuki's blood-stained scythe swooped above me.

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" I yelled. I wasn't used to fighting with Uzuki. . . and she wasn't using her scythe very well either. She was paying too much attention to getting close to Mitsuhiro, and she was probably getting really nautious and dizzy thanks to all the blood she had lost.

"I'm sorry. . ." she whimpered as she pushed on her wound again with her hand. Her hand was covered in blood now, and there was blood soaking through her black robe.

I stopped, and looked at my arms and hands, realizing that Dex's powers were wearing away.

_Come on Dex, I need your help!_ I thought angrily.

_I'm trying as hard as I can!_ Dex yelled back. _You need to finish him off now while my power is still alive! You're just wasting time! _

I looked at Mitsuhiro, and then at Uzuki. I ran up to her and pulled her back from her duel with Mitsuhiro.

"Uzuki. . . I need to finish this. . ." I said softly, trying to calm her down.

Uzuki looked up at me with a shocked look. "N-No! You can't kill him Link!"

"It's not like I have any other options!" I growled, my voice raising in anger.

She forcefully grabbed my shoulders, pulling me down to her level on the ground.

"Link, if you win and he dies. . . think about what would happen! You can't kill him! He's too important! We need him! I-"

I placed my hands on Uzuki's shoulders, and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I know. He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

Uzuki didn't respond. Her eyes strayed away from mine, like she was considering her answer.

"I promised that I would get him back. And that's what I'm going to do," I continued.

Uzuki looked back into my eyes, and nodded. "Link, if you don't defeat him. . . I'm going to do it myself, alright?"

"Sure thing. I'll get him stuck in such a situation so that you'll get a chance to do your Soul-cleansing thing."

She smiled at me, and hugged me tight.

"Be careful. . . I don't want you to die either. . ."

I smiled a little smile, and then patted her back. "I promise. . . I'll get Mitsuhiro back, and we can be a team again. . ." She released herself from our hug, and then she pulled out a long white bandage. She tied it tight around her wound, wincing in pain whenever she tied it too tight. Before I stood up, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a long piece of fabric.

Mitsuhiro's headband.

She carefully stood up, still dizzy from her loss of blood, and then tied the headband around my left arm.

"To our new leader, Link Nohansen Hyrule," she said in a choked, painful voice. She smiled, and then gave me a salute. "Anything you need me to do, and I'll do it, Link-san."

I tried hard not to blush.

_Such respect for a kid like me!_ I thought. _The new leader of the Time Keepers. . . does she actually mean that? She - no, everyone - is relying on me to save Mitsuhiro. . . and that's what I'm going to do. _

I smiled at Uzuki one last time, and then gave her a high-five before pulling my sword out from its sheath and turning towards Mitsuhiro.

What an ugly sight he was.

Never have I seen a sight so devastating in my time as the Hero of Time. Even Ganondorf in his monster form, Ganon, was a prettier sight to look at than Mitsuhiro. I tried to deny the fact that this was a monster, and tried to accept the fact that it was just my friend - my best friend - under the control of a demon.

But as I walked closer and closer to my best friend, I couldn't deny it any longer. He was a monster now, and he had to be stopped.


	43. Kill Me in My Sanctuary

Hey everyone,

Well, this is probably the BIGGEST chapter ever, although I can't help but shake the feeling that this was rushed. . . I don't know, I might do more work on it later and resubmit it. Either way, this will be the LAST chapter for the first part of Time Gate (or so it seems. . . you'll have to wait and find out if there are going to be any more!) There is an author's note at the bottom for anyone that wants to read it :D enjoy this chapter, and please R&R! I hope you all enjoyed Time Gate!

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 43: Kill Me in My Sanctuary (Sanctuary of Death)**

I pulled out a kunai with one hand and sliced it through Mitsuhiro's chest. Screaming in pain, he brought his sword around to me. If I hadn't dodged in time, I probably would have been decapitated right then and there.

This fight was getting old, and I wanted to end it.

I charged at Mitsuhiro, and our blades struck each other, both of us trying to push the other off balance.

"Give it up, Mitsuhiro!" I yelled, grinning at him diabolically. "You can't kill me!"

He snarled at me, baring his teeth like an angry dog.

"Watch me! I'll kill you easily!" Mitsuhiro screamed back. He was talking more now, no doubt. But everything he said was screamed in angry sentences.

I pushed my sword, knocking his frail bony body away from me. Everything about him now was sharp and bony. His elbows were bony and his knees were bony. It was like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Maybe that was just it.

Maybe he hadn't been eating since this whole mess began.

He didn't look that good, but since he became possessed by the Kyodai no Akuma, he had kind of lost his formal, cool-and-collected touch.

I reached into the holster on my belt quickly, and scanned the inside with my fingers, looking for a kunai. I was running out of those. I only had one left, and then I would be stuck using shurikens. I had to make the next one count. At this point, I didn't really care if I wounded the guy or not. I just had to get him stuck in such a way so that he wouldn't be able to do anything, giving Uzuki the chance to use her scythe.

I threw my sword into the air, its metal gleaming in the sky as it spun above me. The moment it left my fingers, I quickly grabbed a light seal from the small bag attached to the right side of my bag with one hand, and grabbed my last kunai with my other hand. I wrapped the golden paper around the handle of my kunai, sealing its light magic inside the steel. I snapped my head up to see my sword coming down from the sky. Quick as lightning, I gripped the handle of the kunai between my sharp teeth, and grabbed another light seal from my bag, tying it to my right wrist. As the sword fell closer and closer to me, I grabbed a _third_ light seal, a much longer one, and as I reached my hand up to catch the handle of my sword, I wound the light seal around the bandages that were already tied around the handle, wrapping the golden paper down around the blade to the very tip.

"Bring it on, you bastard. . ." I hissed like an angry cat, bringing the huge sword up and balancing it on my back. Yeah, the mixture of the light seals with Dex's dark powers was strange. . . but it would do the trick.

_Alright Dex, give it all you've got!_ I thought anxiously. I was pumped, ready to fight. I wasn't going to lose so easily.

Mitsuhiro licked his lips for the millionth time I had seen in my life, and he put his index fingers and thumbs together, forming a circle with his hands. His body began to blur, and every time he flickered, clones of him appeared.

Two.

Four.

Six.

Eight.

And each time they multiplied and I thought he was done, more and more appeared. I couldn't even count the amount of clones there were when he was finally through.

I swore under my breath. Not like I regretted it or anything. I was done for. You couldn't blame me for swearing.

I perked up and began counting the clones that were surrounding me. I estimated about fifty. But that was an estimation; maybe there was less, or maybe there was _more_. There could have been a hundred in the group. Either way, it would be a miracle if I won now.

_You can do this_. . . I thought. But I was also really doubting myself. I figured that I had to rely on Dex's powers a lot to get through this.

One by one, and then all at once, the clones began charging at me and attacking me. I tried my best to block their katanas and fists with my sword. This thing was like the Biggoron sword; I couldn't use my shield. In fact, now that I recall, I hadn't used my shield in the past long while. This sword's double-edged one-foot-wide blade was big enough and durable enough to take any attack like it was a shield.

Hopefully it would be enough.

I twirled my sword around like a baton, dodging each and every attack that came my way. I was getting dizzy though, and I didn't know how well I could continue to maintain Dex's speed.

I felt a stinging pain hit my shoulder. I looked down to see a thin but bloody cut on my shoulder, the fabric of my tunic ripped so smoothly that it looked like a needle had cut through it. These guys were swift. I couldn't get attacked again. It hurt more than it looked too; it was like having a million needles poke into the same spot, over and over again.

I dodged more of the attacks, but the wound on my shoulder was hurting too much, and I ended up getting hit again, this time in the side. Blood arose from my mouth and from the deep gash on my stomach. I lurched in pain, but I had to ignore it so I wouldn't get an even _worse_ injury.

I heard continuous _clangs_ as the steel of my sword bounced off the blood-stained metal of the clone's katanas. I felt a hot stinging sensation hit my neck, and then my back. I kept feeling the hot stings all over my body, until I had no more will or strength to fight back. I collapsed to the ground in a heap, blood draining from my mouth and wounds and onto the roof of the castle. This white castle was going to be completely red by the end of everything. . .

_Get up. . .! You idiot!_ Dex screamed at me. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain, his voice hoarse and his words cracked.

_I-I can't. . ._ I replied. _I just can't do this anymore. . . I can't feel anything. . . _

_Do you want to die? Just. . . get up already. . .! _

I tried to listen to him, tried to lift myself up, but I just couldn't. I ended up falling back onto the roof and spilling more blood. I bit hard on my lip from the pain, trying to forget about it, but I couldn't escape it.

I looked over to where Yashiro and Shuto were fighting the member of the Society. He appeared to be losing, but my eyesight was so blurry that I couldn't even tell anymore.

I bit down harder on my lip, tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to cry, but the pain was so unbearable. No matter what Dex yelled at me, no matter how bad I wanted it, I couldn't get up and fight back. I couldn't even lift my head without feeling a wave of extreme pain.

But. . . I had to. . . I had to get up. . .

"Just stand up. . ." I growled to myself. "Ignore the pain. . . stand up. . . and save Mitsuhiro. . . that's what you came here for. . ." I lifted my right arm and pushed half of my body up from the ground. More blood fell from my mouth and chest, and my arm trembled from beneath me. I lifted my other arm, slowly and ever so carefully lifting myself back up. The blood gushed out from my entire body, my clothes stained of a deep color of scarlet. I grabbed my sword, gripping the hilt and using the tip of the blade to support myself up. I squeezed the handle tightly with both hands, supporting myself against the sword. I could barely even stand up without wanting to fall back down again. I painfully turned my neck to scan the area. The clones were gone. It was just the real Mitsuhiro left. It was extremely hard to see him; the vision in my left eye had disappeared. I could only see black. I figured it was because my eye was closed and I couldn't open it because there was too much blood on it. That was probably it.

"M-Mitsuhiro. . ." I hissed. "It's. . . not over yet. . ."

Mitsuhiro scowled at me. "Give it up, you pathetic little brat!" he screamed in his godlike but demonic voice. "You have nothing left anymore! You can barely even stand up! Surrender! Give up! Let yourself die and rot up here for the rest of eternity!"

I gritted my teeth in sheer anger at him. I took one hand of my sword, and tightened my fingers around the handle, lifting it from out of the roof. I fell forward a bit, losing my balance from my sword being taken away from me, but I slowly stood up again, keeping myself hunched over to prevent any more pain.

"Just look at yourself! You're asking for a death wish!"

I dragged my sword behind me as I limped closer and closer to him, my vision blurring and my heart growing heavy with each extra step I took.

"Give up already! You have no chance!"

I stopped, and smirked to myself, the blood running through my fangs and down my lower lip, until the beads of red liquid began to roll down my neck like raindrops.

"I have as much a chance as you. . ." I said under my breath. I lifted my head, my eyes widened and crazy as I stared at him corruptly. I wiped my lower lip, and cracked my neck to the side. "So why don't _you_ give up. . .? You're already afraid to death of me. . . so give up this battle. . ."

"I'm not giving up for anything, you selfish little brat!" Mitsuhiro screamed. "Why do you continue to live if you know that your fate is death?"

_This can't be Mitsuhiro speaking to me. . . _I thought. _It must be the Kyodai no Akuma then._

I felt another wave of pain go through one of my wounds. I staggered, but balanced on my sword like it was a walking cane. I tried hard to increase my Soul power as high as it could go, but it was hard when I had to concentrate on holding my injuries.

_Link, stop pushing yourself!_ Dex yelled at me. _Mitsuhiro's right! You've got nothing left to fight with!_

_I need to keep fighting, Dex. . . _I thought. _Even if it means using all the Soul power I have left. . ._

_Stop talking like that! You'll just kill yourself! You can get rid of the Kyodai no Akuma another way!_

_This is the only way. Please, Dex. _

There was a silence between our thoughts.

_You really want to become a monster just so you can stop Mitsuhiro? Dex finally asked me._

_. . .Yes. Please help me save him._

Dex's voice disappeared from inside my head. I waited for a while, and I was certain that he had just abandoned me, but my doubtful thougts ended on the spot when I felt my Soul power multiply by the thousand. And it just kept rising, like a fire from within me. My blood-stained blond hair grew out longer, black streaks covering the dirty-blond color. My fingernails grew out long and sharp, like claws, and my teeth changed into extremely sharp fangs. My entire body was being covered in shadows again, the Triforce on my hand glowing black. A sudden jolt hit my back, and I looked around to see two ripped black wings gently floating above me.

I hunched over, my head bending down, and smiled, my two rows of sharp fangs lifting into a high arc. I snapped my neck up, staring at Mitsuhiro with my eyes filled with insanity. As I stared at him, I pulled up my sword from the ground, its metal a shimmering black. The shadows creeped down my arm and onto the metal, the sword drastically increasing in size.

Mitsuhiro smirked at me, and pulled out his katana as well, the shadows from his own body increasing the size of his weapon. Our swords looked completely identical now.

_This is it,_ I thought anxiously as I held my sword up high. _I'm ending this here, right now. _I backed up from Mitsuhiro, creating a large gap between us.

I took one last look at Uzuki. She had her head down low. She didn't want to watch this final battle.

I looked at Yashiro and Shuto, who were still fighting the man from the Society, and appeared to be winning.

"Goodbye. . ." I said to myself, my friends, and to Mitsuhiro. I tightened my grip on the sword, and then charged at Mitsuhiro, my sword flying from behind me. Mitsuhiro cracked his neck before charging at me with his sword.

I knew that the probability of me surviving from this was extremely low. But to sacrifice myself to save the others just seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted to see Mitsuhiro happy again, with the Time Keepers. I would probably die in the process of trying to revive his happiness. . . but it was the only thing I could do. . .

As I got closer to Mitsuhiro, I felt the urge to close my eyes and prepare myself for the impact. But I kept them open, and continued to run at Mitsuhiro, until I leaped into the air and dove down at him. He leaped up at me as I flew through the air, both of us holding our fists back and preparing to punch at each other. Our fists were caught in a sea of shadows, both of them growing in power from the darkness growing around them, ready to attack.

As we collided, our fists met each other, the shadows around us exploding like a bomb.

I could only feel pain.

I slowly lifted my head, and saw that I was lying on my stomach on the ground. I soon realized that I was lying in a pool of blood.

I suddenly felt really, really sick. I coughed, and I ended up throwing up blood. Now I really couldn't do anything. I couldn't stand up, I could barely see a thing. . . it was a challenge just to lift my head up. I set my head down, easing the pain from my neck, but it didn't stop the constantly pounding and stinging feeling that was surging through my entire body. I turned my gaze, keeping my head on the ground, and saw Mitsuhiro standing just a few feet from me.

_He's still standing, and there isn't even a scratch on him. . ._ I thought angrily. I tried to push my head up again, but it was too painful. _I can't. . . it hurts too much. . ._

Mitsuhiro smiled deviously at me. He licked his lips before crossing his arms.

"Pathetic little brat," he hissed. "Look at me. . . you didn't even land a single scratch on me! You call yourself the Hero of Time? You're not befitting of that name!"

I looked away, not wanting to look at his monstrous evil face.

I had failed.

"It just goes to show that you can't kill me, no matter how hard you try! I, the Kyodai no Akuma, am immortal! There is no demon out there that is stronger than me! You can rot in hell!"

I turned my head around, looking back up at him. I made a weak smirk at him. "Then I guess I'll see you in hell."

He raised his eyebrow at me, confused by my words. His body suddenly tugged back a little, and I saw a curved white blade placed around his body. He looked back to see Uzuki grasping her scythe, her arms trembling.

Mitsuhiro smiled at her. "Heh, you wouldn't dare kill me. . ." he snickered. "You don't have the guts to kill the person you care about!"

Uzuki smirked back at him. "You're right. I don't. I want to save the one person that I care most about. . ."

"Then put the scythe down before you hurt someone. Besides, we both know this weapon won't do any good against me. . ."

Uzuki continued to smile. "I want to save the person I care most about. . . I have to get rid of you!" Tears ran down her face as she pulled on the scythe's handle, the blade slicing through Mitsuhiro's body as easily as scissors cutting through paper. I swallowed in fear and disgust as I watched the two dismembered halves of Mitsuhiro's body become enveloped in shadows and fly towards each other, forming a small black, translucent sphere. It floated like a black flame, a small little wisp waving above it.

Uzuki walked up to the small orb and picked it up with her hands. Then she smiled at me.

"Link, I don't know how to thank you enough. . ." she said. She set the orb back on the ground, and proceeded to help me up. More blood gushed out from my body when she lifted me, but she didn't seem to mind. She let out a whistle, calling over Yashiro and Shuto. The man that they had been fighting. . . he was gone. Had they killed him, or had he just run away?

Uzuki lifted me over her shoulders, holding my entire body over her back like she was giving me a piggyback ride. My blood was soaking through her robe, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention. Yashiro and Shuto walked over to us, blood running down their faces.

"Are you two alright?" Uzuki asked. She passed me over to Shuto.

"He put up a fight, but we managed to get rid of him," Yashiro sighed. "He got away though. . . this could be bad news for us. We should get out of here as quick as possible before we're found by the higher ranks."

Uzuki nodded and went back to pick up the orb. After looking at it for a while, I soon came to the conclusion that it was Mitsuhiro's Soul.

"How're you feeling there Link?" Shuto asked me, a smile growing on his face.

I tried to smile back. "Painful. . ." I chuckled in a hoarse voice.

"We'll get you all bandaged up and healed when we get back to the base, okay?"

I smiled, and closed my eyes.

* * *

**A Short Interlude**

Makoto wearily lifted his arm and reloaded his gun.

"Ugh. . . Makoto, give it up already! He's not going to die!" Higashizawa sighed tiredly. "You're just wasting bullets. . ."

Makoto ignored him, and lifted the gun again, aiming it at the man.

"I made a sworn oath to kill this man. . . I don't care if it's not him, I can't stand the sight of his face! I'm going to take him down now!"

Higashizawa rolled his eyes and began to walk away. He stopped in his tracks though when he heard a gunshot followed by a scream of pain. He spun around, and saw the man sitting on his knees, clutching his arm.

"N-No way!" Higashizawa exclaimed.

Makoto smiled crazily, his efforts finally rewarded. He took out his second handgun, and began reloading both with as many bullets as they could hold.

"Take this. . . you damn BASTARD!" Makoto screamed, and aimed both guns at the man. He pulled the triggers, two bullets flying out, and continued to shoot, more bullets zooming towards the creature. He laughed psychotically as he pulled the triggers of his guns over and over again, tearing the man's body apart with bullets.

Higashizawa ran up to Makoto and pulled him back. "Calm down, dude! Take it easy!"

Makoto pulled the trigger one more time before lowering his guns. He smiled as he watched the man disappear like twilight.

"Good riddance," he hissed.

* * *

_I have to move now. . ._ Zelda thought. She slowly lifted her head, and opened her eyes. The man was disappearing.

"What's happening to him?" Zero whispered to me.

"I don't know. . . you don't think that the source of that thing was stopped, do you?" Zelda replied. She felt a slight breeze.

"Hey! Look, we're back in the real world again!" Zero yelled.

Zelda let out a sigh of relief. _Thank the Goddessess. . . _

Zelda didn't hesitate to run back to the castle, taking the secret passageway into the library. When she got back to the castle, she ran to Impa's room and jumped into arms, crying.

"Zelda?" Impa exclaimed. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

"A nightmare!" Zelda exclaimed, tears running down her face.

"It's alright, it was only a dream. . ." Impa sighed, rubbing her hair to calm her down.

Zelda closed her eyes and dug her face into her housemother's shoulder.

_It wasn't a dream,_ she thought. _I know it wasn't._

* * *

Kon thrust the tip of the metal staff into the man's chest. The weapon's sharpened steel dagger shot straight through the man's body, killing him immediately. The man disappeared into twilight. Kon fell to his knees, tired from the long battle he had just endured. Miu crawled up to him and rubbed his face.

"It's alright Miu. . ." Kon sighed. "He's gone now. . ." He picked up the weapon he had used to get a better look at it. "But. . . what do you think this thing is? It sure doesn't look like a weapon you'd see a regular knight use. . ."

Kon stood up and carried the weapon back into the secret room of the house. He set the staff on the shelf where he had taken it, and made sure it looked as if it were never touched.

"Did you know this was here, Miu?" Kon asked the cat who was now sitting on his shoulder. He stared at the cat, and then sighed. "If only you could talk. . ." Kon turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.

_Boy, does Uzuki sure have some explaining to do._

* * *

**Chapter 43 (continued)**

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the living room of the house.

Home sweet home.

I sat up on the couch. It wasn't very painful anymore. My entire body was covered in bandages though. My arms were covered, a part of my face was covered, my torso was covered. . . everything from the waist up was covered in white bandages, and some of the white cloth had blotches of red in them.

I saw Uzuki walk in from the kitchen. She had a smile on her face, and she was carrying Mitsuhiro's Soul in her hands. It wasn't such a sinister black anymore. Now it was a lighter black, but it almost had a tint of green to it.

"Is that Mitsuhiro's Soul. . .?" I asked, finally able to talk without it hurting so much.

"You bet it is," she said happily. "And I managed to get the Kyodai no Akuma out too!"

"Really? But wait, it had to go somewhere, right? Where is it?"

She pointed at the katana sitting on the coffee table. It looked the exact same, except for the blood that was lining its blade from the fight.

"I sealed the Kyodai no Akuma away, inside Mitsuhiro's katana."

I looked at the blade, and then reached my hand over, grabbing the handle. I dropped it immediately when I felt my hands burn.

"Ow!" I exclaimed and examined my hand. I had dropped it just in time before it burned my skin. "W-What was that?"

"You got burned too, huh?" Uzuki asked me in an unsure sort of tone. "It's strange, Yashiro held it too, and the sword burned her hands, but. . ." She took the sword in her hands, and she didn't appear to feel any pain. ". . .it doesn't burn me when I hold it."

"Should that even happen?" I asked as I rubbed my hand from where it still hurt from the burn.

"The Kyodai no Akuma can't hurt the person it belongs to - Mitsuhiro in this case - but for some reason, the demon doesn't hurt me either. . ."

"Who knows, maybe it's just because you're so close to Mitsuhiro that the Kyodai no Akuma knows it can't hurt you either?"

Uzuki turned her gaze away. "Hm, maybe. . . I just don't know. . ."

I looked at the soul that was bobbing in her hand.

"What about Mitsuhiro? How do you plan to get him back? You can't just leave him like that. . ."

Uzuki focused her attention on the soul in her hand, and set the katana back down on the table.

"I'm about to bring him back now," she said in a low voice. She carried the soul over to the empty space in the living room, the same spot where she had performed the sealing on me. She set the soul down on the floor. Then she called Shuto and Yashiro. The two came walking into the living room.

"Okay guys," Uzuki began. "This spell is still tricky for me, and even I'm unsure of whether or not it will work, but. . . I'm about to bring Mitsuhiro-kun back."

Yashiro and Shuto let out a cheer. I saw Kon walk in soon after, Miu sitting on his shoulder. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

Uzuki grabbed the jar of white sand that was always sitting on top of the piano. She opened the lid, and grabbed a handful of the sand. She began to gently pour it onto the floor with her hand, making a design that was somewhat similar to the sealing design. It was a lot more complex though. She drew multiple circles, each one surrounding the other, and then she drew lines and other designs flowing out from them. When she was done, she grabbed Mitsuhiro's soul from the coffee table and dropped it right in the middle of the design, where the smallest circle was. She actually just dropped it, letting it fall towards the circle. When it landed, it made almost a sort of rippling sound, and there were ripples of light growing from beneath it, like she had dropped it on an invisible lake.

I carefully stood up from the couch, wanting to get a closer look. I slowly limped over to Shuto, and stood next to him as I watched Uzuki stare down at the soul on the ground.

Suddenly, a burst of light shone from the biggest surrounding circle of the seal, the light shining over the soul, brightening up the whole room. We all closed our eyes from the intensity of the light.

When we opened our eyes again, we saw Mitsuhiro lying on his back, replacing the spot where his soul had been. He looked. . . fine. His face was back to normal, he didn't have any wounds. . . and more importantly, he didn't appear to have one trace of Kyodai no Akuma on him.

"Mitsuhiro!" I exclaimed, and without any warning, I jumped at him, gathering him into a big hug. He grunted, caught off guard by my sudden action.

"W-What happened. . .?" he asked in a low voice. "Link. . .? What are you doing. . .?"

Did he even remember any of the things that happened? I didn't even care about that question at this point. All I could do was hug him tighter.

Mitsuhiro pushed me off, and brought himself up from the floor. He staggered, but soon regained his posture.

"Wow. . . I just got a really big headache. . ." Mitsuhiro groaned, holding his head in pain.

Uzuki walked up to him, stared at him for a split second, and then hugged him.

"I, uh. . . don't really know what happened, but. . ." he muttered. He patted Uzuki's head and smiled. "I guess I was a bastard for making you guys worry so much, huh?"

Uzuki laughed. "It's not your fault Mitsuhiro!" she giggled. "It's just. . . great to have you back!"

I looked at Yashiro and Shuto, who were both smiling, happy to have their leader back. Yashiro walked up and gave Mitsuhiro a slap on the back. He slightly fell forward from the impact.

"Do that again, and I'll kill you, you hear me?" Yashiro threatened, and she laughed.

"It's good to see you too, Yashiro," Mitsuhiro chuckled. "Hm, by the way, now that I think about it. . ." He punched her in the face. She fell to the floor. The rest of us jumped back in surprise.

"What the hell was that for?" Yashiro yelled as she wiped her face.

"Payback for nearly punching my face out a few days ago," Mitsuhiro laughed.

"Aw man, I thought you were the Kyodai no Akuma then! You're telling me you remember that?"

"You betcha'. Congratulations on achieving your teleporting ability, by the way."

Yashiro laughed, stood back up, smiled a toothy-grin, and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Sorry if I hurt you Shuto. . ." Mitsuhiro said as he patted Shuto's head. "Didn't mean it, you know?"

Shuto shook his head. "It's fine! Besides, it was kind of cool to test out my strength against our leader!"

Mitsuhiro turned to me, and shook his head in denial at Shuto's words.

"I'm not. . . worthy of being your leader anymore. . ." Mitsuhiro said in a low voice. "I nearly killed you all, and for what? Just to let the Kyodai no Akuma use me like I was his puppet. . ."

Uzuki looked at him, and smiled. She put his hand on his shoulder. "Then you've decided?" she asked him.

Mitsuhiro nodded. "Link, I want you to continue being a part of our group. And in three years, if you can defeat us. . . I'll let you become the new leader of the Time Keepers."

I didn't say anything at first. I could only smile at him.

"Do you think three years will be enough?" he asked me.

"Enough? I could do it in less if I wanted to!" I laughed. "Just you watch, I'll be stronger than all of you! And I'll be able to kick your ass any day when I get stronger!"

Mitsuhiro looked surprised at me. Then he smiled back.

He smiled.

At a person like me, a person whom he had detested since I arrived in this world.

Mitsuhiro placed his hand on my head and bent down so that he was level in height with me.

"Good luck then, Fairy Boy," he said. He held his hand out to me, and I gave him a high-five, our hands grasping each other's, sealing the promise that we made that day.

Then he brought up his hand and poked me in the forehead.

* * *

I sat up in my bed and looked out the window. It was strange. . . we had made everything better, brought Mitsuhiro back in one piece. . . and yet I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was the haunting feeling of re-imagining myself as the demon that I had once been, back on the battlefield with the Kyodai no Akuma. I could see my shadow covered body, my glowing red eyes, my black Triforce. . . things that I never wanted to see again. But I also had the feeling that back there, Dex had been holding back on me. His caring for my life stopped him from actually unleashing his entire ability. Was that all the power he had, or did he just not want to unleash it all in fear of killing me?

Or maybe. . .

Could he even use all of his powers. . .?

This question was one that I needed to answer, something that I had to figure out the truth to on my own.

I stood up from my bed and stretched my arms out. I needed a glass of water, and I was starving. I just couldn't get to sleep with a dry throat and my stomach constantly growling throughout the night.

I walked to the door and slowly opened it, trying not to make a sound. I didn't want to wake anyone up. I knew that Yashiro was asleep; even she would be tired after a mission like that. Uzuki would be out of her mind to walk around in circles in the dark now that she had witnessed and become terrifed of the formally-dressed scouts that had haunted her during the mission. Mitsuhiro would obviously need sleep, no joke. And Shuto and Kon were pretty much the only ones in the house who went to sleep on a regular basis like normal people.

I quietly slipped into the hallway like a ghost, walking so gently so that the floorboards wouldn't creak (and some of the floorboards in this house creaked real bad). I walked through the hallway and towards the kitchen, when something caught my eye. I backed up into the hallway so that I couldn't be seen, sidling against the wall and peeking into the living room, being careful not to be spotted.

There I saw Uzuki and Mitsuhiro.

I tried to hold back saying anything. They seemed to be dancing with each other, but it was hard to tell because they were barely moving at all. Their feet were shuffling along the floor, but that's the only way I could tell that they were dancing together. I could hear them talking to each other, and they didn't seem to notice me, so I continued to watch.

"Mitsuhiro. . . do you remember anything that happened. . .?" Uzuki asked, her voice so quiet that it was nearly a whisper.

"Hm. . . I can remember. . . everything that happened. . . up until the point when I gave myself in to the Society. That was probably the time when the Kyodai no Akuma took me over," Mitsuhiro explained. "However. . . I do remember having a bit of my sanity left at one point during the final battle. . ."

"Really? Do you remember what happened?"

Mitsuhiro stared into her eyes. "I remember sitting in a room, with the Kyodai no Akuma, and you were there. . . playing the piano. It didn't look like you, but I knew it couldn't be anyone else."

Uzuki was silent as she stared back at him. "That must have happened when I attacked you. . ." she whispered. She buried her face into his shoulder. "I'm just so happy that you're back. . . I couldn't imagine handling this journey on my own without you. . ."

I felt like leaving. It wasn't right to watch them like this. . . but something stopped me from leaving. Curiousity perhaps? Of course, like that old saying went, "Curiousity killed the cat".

"Just. . . if something like this happens again, let me and the rest of the group know so that we can help you, okay?" Uzuki asked him.

"Heh. . . alright. And tomorrow, let's burn those drawings," Mitsuhiro snickered. "I don't want you having nightmares."

Uzuki smiled at him, and he smiled back.

Then the unthinkable happened.

They kissed.

No joke. I felt like jumping out and strangling them, but then my listening in on them would have become an even bigger problem. I simply backed up and went back to my room, leaving the two alone. I sat back down on my bed, completely forgetting about my thirst and growling stomach, and I laid under the covers, staring up at the ceiling with my arms crossed beneath my head. I knew as well as anyone that Uzuki and Mitsuhiro cared about each other. . . I just never realized how much they cared. But then again, Uzuki had defeated him herself, brought herself to the limit of slicing the guy in half. . . I guess they did care about each other.

My thoughts began straying to Zelda, cooped up in her bedroom waiting for me to return. I didn't like having to put her through such torture of waiting. . . maybe, if the Society held back long enough, I would be able to see her. . . but a part of me didn't want to face her again. I didn't want to have to explain to her why I had never visited her or written her back. . . but after seeing Mitsuhiro and Uzuki out there. . . it made it a lot more painful to think about.

So I began to think about the journey ahead.

The Society was still alive, and probably aware that their precious demon had been changed back to normal.

I had three years to become stronger so I could be the leader of the Time Keepers.

Dex was still an enemy of mine, and I had to determine who's side he was on. Obviously the Society at this point.

I also still had to ask Dex if he had used his powers to the maximum back in that last fight, and if he could even use all of his powers.

And. . . I had to face Zelda again.

I would do all of this in my own way, at my own time, until I became stronger. Each of these were missions that I had to accomplish, questions that I had to find the answers to.

I would start with the first step.

I looked over to my desk, and grabbed my Time Gate.

**

* * *

**

A Short Interlude

Uzuki pulled away from Mitsuhiro, a blank look on her face.

"Mitsuhiro. . ." she said in a low voice.

Mitsuhiro sighed, and pulled away too. "Yeah, we both know it won't work between us until we settle everything between the Time Keepers and the Society. . . I know that. . ."

Uzuki smiled at him, and then hugged him tight. She bit her lip.

"Ugh, I've got a headache. . ." she groaned. She held her head, and smiled at Mitsuhiro one last time. "Take care, Mitsuhiro." She turned around, and left for her room.

_Man, I've got such a headache. . ._ she thought. _It must be from the lack of sleep. _

_. . ._

_Hello._

The words were followed by a giggle.

_

* * *

_

They try to break us apart.

_They try to throw more obstacles in our path._

_They break our weapons, pride, and hope._

_They threaten to hurt us._

_We try to break through, but our numbers do not surpass theirs._

_We are hated most in the world._

_We are the ones watching your every step. _

_We are outcasts, warriors of the darkness._

_Kicking aside bones, watching people die, like insects that refuse to be squashed._

_And although the ground below us may break._

_And all hope is lost._

_I will never let you go._

_Give us a sword, and we'll fight for you._

_We'll push past their ranks and surpass even the strongest. _

_It doesn't matter who it is._

_We will break through them._

_It is true._

_Nothing else can change our world._

_So who shall be the ones that fall in the end? Us, or you?_

_We shall be the judge of that._

_

* * *

_

**A/N: Okay, so I'm trying really hard not to cry. . . Time Gate is NOT over yet though for those of you that have been wondering, but it's kind of obvious because of how things are turning out. . . There will be three, possibly four more chapters up soon, and they're all about Princess Zelda. Seems boring, but don't worry, she does a lot in Time Gate once the Adult Chapters hit. The second part of Time Gate - the Adult Chapters - focus entirely on Link as an adult in the Time Keepers. It will be published as a separate work on the site for the sake of room, and it will probably be the same length as the Child Chapters, if not longer. I don't intend on it being any shorter :P**

**So, thank you all for reading the first part of Time Gate! I'm hoping that you will all continue on to read the Adult Chapters, but until they come out, you can read what I kind of like to call the 'Zelda Chapters'. What it's about, you'll have to find out on your own. Thank you all! **

**Uzuki Cheverie**


	44. What's Wrong with Crazy People?

Hey everyone,

Okay, so in case you thought that the Child Chapters of Time Gate was over, you should look back and read these last three chapters. Actually, it's just one chapter split off into three parts. Either way, it's all about what happens to Zelda and what causes her behavior later on in the Adult Chapters (which I have posted, if you don't already know). Either way, now that Adult Chapters is coming in, there will be a tiny bit more language (there is a bit of language in this set of chapters) so that's just a warning to you all. Oh, and a lot of the new characters in this part of the story are based off my own family members, such as my two older brothers, and Yashiro-chan's older brothers.

Also, because I've been wanting to put this up for a while, I have a little something to say to you all. Recently, as you all should now, the first part of Time Gate is finished. I have put up the Adult Chapters, but so far that story has only gotten about 150 hits. HOWEVER, I have noticed that the hits for the Child Chapters has increased dramatically. Why is this? Have you all suddenly realized that the second half is up and that you should finish the first half? I'm still unsure at this point. But, although the hits have gone up, I'm yet to get any feedback from you guys! Way over half the hits I get are from people in the U.S., but I never get any reviews or comments from you guys! I really, really want to hear all your opinions, so please, please, PLEASE, don't be afraid to put up a review or two! I only get reviews from three different authors, but I get hits and visitors from hundreds of you! So please, send me your feedback, tell me what needs to be fixed or needs improvement, tell me what you love, tell me what you think drives you absolutely nuts, tell me what you think should happen next! Just review at least once in a while so I know my story isn't a complete bore to you!

. . . I think I've made my point.

Thank you.

Uzuki Cheverie

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 44 1/3: What's Wrong With Crazy People?**

_I can't tell if this is a dream._

_Can it be, when I'm thinking about the situation that I'm in?_

_But. . . it's still hard to tell if this is real or not._

_This place, these people, these sounds. . . I can recognize them all, and they seem so clear. . . so real._

_I examine the room that I'm in, and I realize that I'm sitting on the throne in Hyrule Castle. The people of Hyrule are bowing before me, some people even from other tribes. I don't know what this is, but I have the feeling that it's safer just to go along with everything._

_But I soon realize that something's wrong with this image. . . I can see someone standing in the back of the crowds of bowing people, a man who's head is tilted far to the side, but who still has a serious look on his face. It's hard to tell who it is, but I know I've seen him somewhere before. His face is pale, and he has long dirty-blond hair that falls over his neck and eyes. He's wearing a black robe that zippes up on the front. He also has a really bony figure. His arms are bony, his elbows sharp, almost to the point that his entire body appears to be consisted of sharp black shadows._

_I stand up from my throne, hoping to approach the strange man and get a better look at his face. But before I can even take a full step from my spot, he lifts one of his sharp arms and snaps his bony black-gloved fingers. Shadows suddenly burst from underneath the floor, and begins to seep along the walls and ceiling like vines of darkness._

_It resembles twilight._

_I watch in horror as the twilight turns the people into spirits, and turns my castle into a palace of shadows. I see the door of the castle, and I try to make a run for it, but I end up tripping, landing on the marble floor. My arms are now being covered in pools of darkness, and eventually I feel myself sinking through the shadows like a rock. I struggle to reach my hand up, hoping to grab onto something so I can pull myself out. My fingers finally touch something, and I soon realize that it's somebody else's hand. Their fingers wrap themselves around my wrist, but I don't feel myself being pulled up. Why won't this person save me?_

_I can't even see the person's face, even as they fall with me through the darkness. The two of us fall through the shadows together for what seems like an eternity, until the next thing I know, the shadows disappear and I find myself falling through the clouds in the sky. I look around, not saying anything, and I soon see the man flying around me, only his body is covered in a tornado of shadows. I continue to fall forever, knowing that I'll hit something soon, although I'm also worried about being killed from the impact. I look down, and I see the ocean, approaching faster and faster. I close my eyes, and I wait, until my body hits the water with a loud slap. Normally, I would float back up, but I can't seem to swim or move or do anything. I don't even float back up. I just keep sinking, like an anchor, deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean._

_As I sink, I can feel my heart pounding harder, my air escaping me. Is this how I would die? I've never thought about death. But trust me when I say that when you really experience it, you never take it for granted again._

_I can feel my heart slowing down as my body floats lightly in the water. I begin to close my eyes, ready to die. . ._

_. . . until he appears._

_I open my eyes a little, and I see the man floating downwards next to me, his face parallel to mine, only upside down. He's floating so slowly, and I notice that his eyes are closed. He looks dead._

_I know that man._

_Who is he?_

_He opens his eyes, and he looks towards me, a sorrowful look on his face. I reach my hand towards him, hoping that he's real, that I'm really seeing him. My fingers brush against his face, but the moment I touch him, his entire body turns into dust, disappearing into the dark tides of the water. I guess this is a dream. . ._

_I close my eyes, and let myself float lifelessly in the calm water._

"Link!" I screamed. I sat up and clutched my chest, and sighed in relief when I could feel my heart beating.

_It was just a dream. . ._ I thought. _Thank the Goddessess. . ._

I looked around the bedroom, just in case it wasn't a dream and Link was here, but unfortunately, I only saw Zero sitting at the end of my bed.

"Are you okay Zelda?" Zero asked panickly, jumping up from her spot to crawl up to me.

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself down. What a nightmare. It was probably one of the worst ones I had ever had in my life. I knew my brain was trying to tell me something, but I wasn't sure. Maybe I was just going crazy.

"That must have been some dream," Zero snickered as she sat back down at the end of the bed. "Hey, why don't you tell me what it was about?" She pulled out a string and set it around her fingers, weaving designs out of the strings by moving her fingertips and thumbs continously. It was something that she did a lot, and it amused her and sometimes helped her think better.

"No, I'm not telling, there's nothing to tell," I said, irritated that she actually wanted me to share my crazy dream.

"Aw, I want to hear it!"

"No."

"Please?"

"I said _no!_"

Zero sighed, and stood up from the bed, stretching her arms out high above her head. "Darn, you're no fun. . ." she yawned, small fangs becoming visible in the corners of her mouth. She stared into the mirror, as if something with her face was wrong.

"By the way, Zelda, what's up with you and that girl that met up with you the other day? Mimitra something-or-other?" Zero asked me.

"Mimitra Takumi," I corrected. "And I'm unsure of whether to go or not."

"Well, you'd better decide soon, she wanted you to meet up with her today!"

I ignored her, and looked out the window at the front yard of the castle. Shortly after I had met Zero, I had received another note from Vincent and Yuuki to meet up with them. However, the only person I encountered was Mimitra Takumi, a seventeen-year-old girl who claimed to be trained in the ways of an assassin. She said that she knew what had happened to me in the past few years, and she even knew about Link and his group, the Time Keepers. I didn't trust her at first, but then she offered a deal that I couldn't refuse. She wanted me to join her group and train with the rest of her comrades so that we could protect Hyrule against the things that the defense systems couldn't stop. Things that, according to Mimitra, the Time Keepers had failed to notice. She said she would train me to learn all kinds of different fighting styles so that I could protect myself. I didn't quite trust her, but there was a part of me that wanted to join her. Maybe it was the part of me that wanted to meet Link again, and to actually join him this time instead of watching from the sidelines.

I stood up from my bed, and began grabbing the things I thought I would need for my meeting with Mimitra and her little group. I had to meet up with her in the graveyard of Kakariko Village, so I knew I would have to be prepared for the somewhat long walk ahead. Walking into monsters was quite common these days, even during the day. I grabbed my trench coat, the long dark green jacket that Yuuki had given me. The sleeves were a bit too long, along with the end of the jacket, but I didn't really care. I liked this jacket, and it was really warm too.

"Mind if I come along?" Zero asked. Then she giggled. "Oh wait, why am I asking? I _have _to go with you!"

"Don't remind me," I hissed, giving her a sour look as I buttoned up my trench coat. Before leaving, I grabbed the sword that was laying against the wall, and then I attached the sheath to my belt. I went to the door and grabbed the handle, pulling open so I could step out into the throne room of the castle. When I descended the stairs and crossed the throne room to the door, there was Impa guarding the entrance, her arms crossed as usual and a stern look on her face.

"You realize what you're getting yourself into, right?" she asked me.

"I'll be fine, Impa. You worry too much." I had told Impa what had happened with my meeting with Mimitra Takumi, and at first she seemed less than pleased, but she soon agreed to let me go after much persuading.

"Just don't do anything reckless, alright?"

"I won't." I waved my hand at her, and then left without saying anything else. I snuck out the front door and across the bridge, and then carefully made my way through the market. Thankfully Impa had cleared the path for me by getting rid of all the guards. But it was probably going to be even _harder _for me to get through the busy market. If anyone saw me, my cover would be blown, and it would take forever to get to Kakariko. So I stuck to the alleyways and ran as fast as I could, hiding myself from large crowds of people. Although, I doubted anyone would recognize me even if they _did_ see me. I never left the castle, so it wasn't like anyone regularly saw my face. Except for Vincent and Yuuki of course.

I eventually made it out of Hyrule Castle Town alive, allowing me to begin my trip across Hyrule Field to Kakariko. I hadn't been out here in so long; ever since the attack on Hyrule Castle nearly three years ago, I was always instructed to stay inside, which is why I had to sneak out if I wanted to meet up with Vincent and Yuuki. Although I had once managed to persuade Impa and the guards to let me go to a public school, much to their dismay. Sadly, I only got to go once in a while. When I wasn't at school, I was instructed by my teacher at the castle, and often studied on my own. So I spent my days cooped up in the castle, unable to leave for any reason. This was my first time in Hyrule Field in a long while. And even after everything that has happened, this place hasn't changed a bit.

I stuck to the dirt path, following the signs that were sticking up from the ground until I could see the river that divided Kakariko from the grounds of the city. I walked over the bridge, looking down into the clean river as I walked, and then started to walk up the staircase that lead up to the village of Kakariko.

When I reached the top of the staircase and walked through the gates, I soon found myself in the quaint little village of Kakariko. I had never actually been here before; I only knew what it looked like from the pictures, maps and artwork pieces I had seen in books. The windmills looked the exact same, although it was much more amazing to see them up close. It was a lot more peaceful here too - the only thing I could hear was the sound of the windmills and the clucking of the Cuccoos. There were no rushing people, no sudden loud noises. . . it was quiet. I liked it.

"Zelda! Quit sight-seeing!" Zero yelled as she floated up in front of me as my shadow. "We need to get to the graveyard!"

"Oh, sorry. . ." I muttered apologetically. I really wanted to explore this place a little more, but I guess it had to wait. The only problem was that I had no idea where the graveyard was. Could you blame me? This was my first time in Kakariko! The only thing I figured I could do was ask the villagers.

I walked around the town, looking for any place that seemed to lead to the graveyard, until I saw a little boy playing with a soccer ball. He looked like he was eleven years old. I approached him, and thankfully, he didn't run away.

"Excuse me, could you lead me to the graveyard?" I asked him kindly.

"Uh, yeah, it's past the big windmill hut," he answered, pointing past the huge grey, brick hut that had a windmill built on top. "Just look for a doorway with a narrow path, follow it, and you're there."

"Thank you." I walked past him.

"Wait. Why are you going to the graveyard?"

I stopped in my tracks.

"Hm? I'm meeting up with someone," I replied.

"Well, it's not the best place for a meeting. Haven't you heard the rumors?"

"Rumors? Like what?" Something like this was obviously worth knowing. Did these rumors happen to involve Mimitra Takumi?

"Well, one time someone went into the graveyard, and they heard a scream. And after the scream, there was a small earthquake, like a tremor in the ground. And that's not all. . . I was exploring the woods out back last week, and I saw _knives_ in the trees. And there was _blood_ on them. And after I saw the knives, I heard a gunshot, follow by a loud scream, and then this crazy laugh."

"That's really. . . disturbing. . ." I shuddered.

"All I'm saying is, _be careful_. There's someone - or some_thing_ - hiding out there, and it's bad."

"Well, thanks. . ." I turned around again, and left.

"Okay, but I warned you!" the kid yelled as I left him behind. As soon as I was out of his sight, Zero came up from my shadow.

"That was weird," she said.

"I know. . . do you think it has anything to do with Mimitra?"

"We won't know until we find out, right?" Zero giggled as she disappeared back into my shadow.

I started to look around the village, trying to find the narrow pathway that the boy spoke of. First, I found the windmill. That was easy enough. I was tempted to go inside and explore, but I knew that I just didn't have the time. I walked past the windmill and immediately saw the stone doorway. I walked through the doorway, making my way down the dirt path until I reached the dark and gloomy area of the graveyard. This place sure was darker than the rest of the village. There were columns and rows of graves everywhere, and there were dark gloomy clouds floating above, almost like this place had a curse placed upon it. To my right I could see an old house, appearing to be empty. This was like a picture from a scary picture book - an old empty house, lots of ancient, cracked graves, and lots of ghosts. Literally, I saw Poes flying around.

I hesitantly went up to the house and knocked on the door. I was hoping someone was living here, even if this house looked completely run-down and abandoned. I was relieved and surprised when an old scary-looking, hunch-backed man revealed himself from behind the door.

"Hello, young lady!" he exclaimed in a cracked, old-man sort of voice. "What's a pretty woman like yerself doing in a place like this?" Even though his accent was a bit off and his face was a bit. . . distorted. . . he didn't look as scary as he looked.

"Hello," I greeted. "Um, do you know if there's someone else around here? A woman perhaps?"

"Can't say I have. . . but could you do old Dampe a favor, if you don't mind? I've been stuck in this here house for years, unable to even leave these days. . . all because of those dang kids out in the woods!" He pointed his cane out to the forest. "Gunfire, earthquakes, smoke, screaming. . . it's all their fault! I was hoping if you could talk some sense into 'em. . . a pretty lady like you should be able to do it easily with no problems. Can you do that for me?"

"Um. . . sure. . .?" I replied. I wasn't so confident, but something told me this little favor would lead me to Mimitra.

"Thank you so much. Maybe now I can actually sleep without being awakened by the sound of _gunfire_."

I swallowed in fear before forcing out a giggle, and then waved goodbye. As he closed the door, I turned around to begin my walk through the graveyard, jumping over and making my way around the multiple gravestones until I made it to the forest's entrance. The moment I reached the spot, I heard a gunshot. At least I knew the rumors were true.

"Wow, the old man was right," Zero muttered. "Think it's safe?"

"I've always got you to protect me," I said.

"Well, I'm not the strongest Twili from the Twilight Realm, so if anything happens, it's your fault."

"I can live with that." I grinned and then stepped into the woods, the trees suddenly growing extremely dense around me. I only traveled for about five minutes before I heard another gunshot, this time followed by a laugh. It was a high-pitched laugh of insanity. I took a deep breath, and continued on. I walked for another five minutes before hearing a third gunshot, followed by another insane laugh. The gunshots and the laughter had gotten louder since I arrived here. I was getting pretty freaked out by now, but I really had no choice now but to move on. I kept walking, even as the gunshots and laughter got louder and louder.

I finally decided to stop so I could get my sanity back and figure out where I was. I looked around, seeing nothing but trees and more trees. But I soon realized that the gunshots had suddenly stopped. All I could hear now was my breathing. But I was scared, and I finally decided that this was just a hopeless chase and that I should turn around and head back.

I spun around, and yelped in surprise when I came face-to-face with a strange man hanging upside down from a tree.

"Sorry for scaring you," he chuckled as he flipped back up onto the tree branch and then jumped onto the ground. Then his expression suddenly became serious as he approached me. "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

I swallowed, wanting to run away, but I really had no choice but to answer him.

"I'm. . . actually here to complain for someone," I said. The man kept walking closer to me, until he was less than a foot away from me. He was only about a foot shorter than me, with spiky black hair that curled slightly at the ends and green eyes that almost appeared to be the color of aqua.

The man suddenly pulled out a switchblade and held the sharp tip of the metal to my face.

"Old man Dampe sent you, didn't he?" he asked in a low, threatening voice. "Look, I don't know who the hell you are, but we're all training back here. We have no time to deal with complaints from people like you!"

". . . So I guess you're not alone back here," I snickered, hoping that my words wouldn't end up getting me killed.

". . . That doesn't have anything to do with you." He pulled the knife away from my face and began to walk away deeper into the forest.

"Then I guess you know Mimitra Takumi!" I yelled. He immediately stopped. Then he turned around, walking back towards me, and held the knife to my face again.

"How do you know Mimi?" he asked.

"She wanted me to meet her here," I answered, unable to take my eyes off the knife.

"Hm, I was never informed of this. . . who are you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I laughed under my breath. "Please. . . if you could just take me to Mimitra. . ."

The man looked around, his eyes looking up, left and right, thinking over the question. Then he clicked his teeth together and pulled the knife away.

". . . Alright, fine, I'll take you to her," he said. "But you're going to have to wait until our training is done. Just stay quiet and follow me." He turned around again and began to walk deeper into the dense forest. I sighed and followed him, the same questions replaying through my mind over and over again.

"So who are you?" I asked.

He scowled at me. "I'm not going to bother telling you if you're not going to tell me who _you_ are," he sneered as he continued through the woods.

"It's kind of hard to explain. . . it would be better if Mimi told you."

The boy suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Shh. . ."

"What? What do you hear?"

He gave me a look of disgust. "Goddess Farore, you have those Hylian ears and you can't even hear something that I, a simple human, can hear?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

". . . Just get behind that tree and stay low!"

I obeyed his orders, and crouched behind the large tree that I had passed earlier. The tree trunk was wide enough to conceal myself to whatever it was I was supposed to be hiding from. I peeked out from around the tree, watching the boy as he took out what looked like a single handgun. He stood in the middle of the spot, and held the gun up to the air, not bothering to look where he was aiming, and pulled the trigger, letting off a loud _bang _into the tree branches above. A second didn't even pass before a large man fell out of one of the trees, landing hard on his back on the tough ground.

"Augh, dammit!" the man groaned in pain as he held his side. Amazingly however, there was no blood. "How did you see me?" he asked the other boy as he picked himself up from the ground. He was _huge_, with big hands that seemed to be wearing large metal gloves, making his hands look even bigger, and he had spiky dark-brown hair.

"There's a reason I'm number two," the boy snickered, putting his handgun away and holding up two fingers. Then he turned to face the tree that I was hiding behind. "Alright stranger, you're safe."

I hesitated, but then I slowly walked out from behind the tree. The big man suddenly widened his eyes, and his jaw dropped.

"You. . . Y-You're the P-Princess Zelda!" he exclaimed, pointing at me. The other boy widened his eyes after he said that, and then _his_ jaw dropped.

"Holy crap! Now that you mention it, she does look like her! But how did you know?"

The big man gave the boy a disgusted look. "Please, Uzuki and I know everything about Hyrule and its Royal Family!"

I stared at the man in surprise. "You know Uzuki-sama?"

"Of course I know her, I'm her _brother_."

_Well, this certainly is awkward,_ I thought. _But. . . does he know she's a Reaper now? No, probably not. . . I'd better keep it a secret, for now at least. _

"Makoto-kun, how in the world did you find her?" the larger man asked the shorter one.

"She just kinda. . . showed up. She claims that Mimi asked her to come here."

The big guy turned to me and smiled. Then he grabbed my hand with his larger hand and shook it. "It's such an honor to see you here! My name is Taishou Kasahara! It must be fate that you decided to come here and meet us. . ."

"Shut up with all that 'fate' shit," the boy named Makoto hissed, hitting the larger man over the head with the edge of his handgun. "She did not suddenly 'decide to come here and meet us', she was asked to come here by Mimi!"

The man scowled at the boy, and then turned back to me, finally releasing his grip on my hand.

"Well, training is pretty much over, so Makoto and I will take you to Mimi." He turned around, pushed Makoto's head back teasingly, and then began walking even deeper into the forest, Makoto and I following close behind. We didn't talk the rest of the way. We walked for nearly ten minutes before we arrived in a clearing, where the trees had been wiped out completely. It was getting dark, so it was really hard to see, but I could make out the faint glow of a bonfire not too far from us. When we made it to the fire, I saw that there was a circle of logs surrounding it, four people sitting casually on the logs.

One of them was Mimitra. She had certainly changed a lot since the first time I saw her. It was mostly her hairstyle that had changed. When I had met her, her hair had been tied into a long, blond ponytail. Now it was short, like she had cropped it all. Had she just cut it, or was the ponytail just an extension? Besides her hair though, she was the kind of person that wore dark types of clothing, with lots of lace and frilly things. Zero called it 'gothic'.

The second person was a man with black hair, that hung over his eyes from beneath a hat. He looked like he worked out often, and I could see his brown eyes from beneath his black bangs. He wore a black jacket with a pair of jeans and sandals.

The third person was a young boy, probably around the same age as me, with light brown hair and a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. He was chewing on a toothpick between his teeth, and his hands were shoved into his jean pockets. His light brown jacket had fur lining the large hood.

The last person there stood out from the crowd. He was extremely tall, taller than me and the rest of the group, and he had long orange-blond hair that went down farther than his shoulders. He was wearing a pair of glasses, a long white lab coat, and a pair of jeans, giving him the slight look of a scientist or a doctor. There were a lot of things I found strange about him, but the strangest thing had to be the weird machine that was laying on his shoulders, around his neck.

Everyone on this group shared something though. They would definitely stand out from the crowd with their clothes and personalities.

"Zelda-chan! You made it!" Mimitra exclaimed the moment she saw me. She patted the empty spot on the log next to her. "Come on, sit down next to me!"

I was unsure about her sudden enthusiasm, but I walked over anyways, trying to ignore the stares from the other people who didn't expect to see me here today. I slowly sat down next to her, and then looked at everyone else.

"Alright everyone, tonight's meeting is. . . special," Mimitra declared. "I was saving this for a surprise, and thankfully, Makoto and Taishou ran into our new member of the group and led her here."

Makoto gasped. "N-New member? This spoiled princess is joining us?"

I bit my lip, unhappy about his comment.

"Yes, the Princess Zelda is joining us," Mimitra continued. A buzz of excitement and conversation suddenly grew throughout the groups of people. "Hey, shut up all of you!"

Everyone stopped.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but I was the one that asked her to come here! Zelda has a good reason for coming here tonight!" She turned to me. "Isn't that right, Zelda?"

I nodded. Although I wasn't so sure on the whole 'joining the group' thing.

"So we might as well get used to her being here! How about we introduce ourselves? Tell Zelda about your hobbies, dreams, or reasons about joining the group."

"Sounds like a waste of time," Makoto hissed.

"Fine, then you're first."

Makoto sighed, and stood up from the log he was sitting on. "My name is Makoto Takahashi. I'm Higashizawa's stepbrother. . ." He pointed to the tall orange-blond haired man. ". . . and I'm the second strongest in the group. My hobbies include shooting things and sharpening knives, playing with explosives, like gunpowder, gasoline. . . oh, and-"

"Makoto, change the subject! We're trying to encourage Zelda to join, not scare her!" Mimitra laughed.

"Oh, anyways, I don't really have a dream. . . actually, it ties in with my reason for joining the group. And my reason for joining is simple. . ." His expression suddenly became very serious. "My goal is to kill a certain man."

I cringed in fear as I stared at Makoto, his eyes reflecting the very insanity in his soul as he sat back down on the log.

"Okay, who's next?" Mimi asked, ignoring Makoto's scary introduction. "Mikoshi, what about you?" She pointed to the black-haired man with the hat. He stood up, and rubbed his head.

"Uh, my name is Mikoshi Kasahara. I'm Taishou's brother. Not many dreams, no specific reason for joining. . . it was mostly Taishou that dragged me to this group in the first place. . ." Then he sat down.

The next person to stand up was the brown-haired boy with the sunglasses.

But he didn't say anything. He began speaking. . . in sign language.

"He says that his name is Rei Ryuga," Makoto translated. "He joined this group to avenge his sister, and he says that he's a puppet master and an alchemist. . . he also says that it will be a pleasure working with you."

I smiled at him as he sat back down. But I couldn't help wondering. . . was he actually mute?

The last person to stand up was the tall man with the orange-blond hair.

"What's up, Princess?" he asked. "Heh, my name is Higashizawa Takahashi, but you can just call me Higashi if my first name is too long. I'm Makoto-kun's stepbrother. I'm also a doctor. . . not a regular doctor though, I'm a 'special' doctor. . . it's too hard to explain, so I'll skip that. Like Mikoshi, I was dragged into this by my brother. Although, becoming stronger doesn't sound that bad to me." He sat back down on the log.

"Now, I want all of you to get to know Zelda better, because she's going to be spending a lot of time with us," Mimitra said. "You know, make her feel welcome, hang out with her, train with her, stuff like that. I'm sure she's excited in meeting you all too."

Higashizawa raised his hand. "I have just one quick question: why in the world would a princess like you want to join our rebel group? Aren't you busy with ruling the kingdom and stuff?"

I smiled. "I've been asking myself that a lot lately, why I wanted to work with you people. A while ago, I was reunited with an old friend. . . the Hero of Time, to be more specific." They all had glazed, confused looks, like I was talking about something crazy. I knew that they wouldn't remember, what with me sending everyone back in time when we were older. The only one who didn't seem confused was Taishou.

"The Hero of Time? That's right, you knew him, didn't you?" Taishou exclaimed. "You and the Hero of Time, Link Nohansen Hyrule, teamed up to defeat Ganondorf Dragmire, and then you brought peace back to Hyrule!"

"Good Goddess Din, you sure are excited," Higashizawa chuckled. "What happened to all that negative energy you had an hour ago?"

Taishou rolled his eyes and ignored Higashizawa's question.

"Anyways, Link couldn't stay in Hyrule," I continued, "because he was working with a group of creatures known as Reapers." I saw Makoto flinch in his spot, almost like he had been stabbed with one of his own knives. "So he left to fight against the evil of the Dark Realm itself. But. . . I really wanted to help him, but there was nothing I could do at the time. It's been nearly three years since then, and I haven't seen him, but I want to help him by getting stronger."

"I see. . . so that's why you wanted to join," Higashizawa said.

"Besides, I think I can be a good asset to you all," I finished. "Because I have something you all don't."

"And what's that, dare I ask?" Makoto hissed.

"I'm the Princess of Destiny, ruler of Hyrule. I can tell you any information that may be kept a secret to the public. Of course, I'll have to learn to trust you all before I can reveal anything. . ."

"That's quite reasonable," Higashizawa stated.

"Also, I have information to both the worlds of the Dark Realm and the Twilight Realm, thanks to the help of my friend here."

They all raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"Zero, it's alright. You can come out." The shadow behind me that was formed by the light of the fire grew out in front of me, immediately catching Makoto, Mikoshi and Taishou's attention. The rest of the group began to notice as the shadow grew up against a tree, forming the body of the Twili, Zero.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet my second Soul, Zero," I introduced.

"Hello, humans," she laughed, the green twilight tattoos shimmering on her face like glitter.

"A Twili!" Taishou exclaimed.

"I guess now that you know about the advantages of having me, you can't say no, can you?" I snickered.

"Wow, she's devious," Mikoshi chuckled.

Mimitra stood up from the log, and clapped her hands together. "Alright then! As of tonight, Zelda Nohansen Hyrule, Princess of Hyrule of the Royal Family, shall be our newest member of the group!"

She turned to me, giving me a thumbs-up.

"Good luck out there!"

Then her voice suddenly changed to a low, scary tone.

". . . You'll need it."


	45. Rebellion of the Royals

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 44 op. 2/3: Rebellion of the Royals**

_What's happening to me?_

_Am I no longer the princess I once was?_

_Everything has become unstable, everything falling apart. I have to open my eyes._

_When I open my eyes, I find myself standing in a meadow. The bright green grass is still, along with the beautiful flowers growing in it. The sun is shining brightly, its ultraviolet rays adding more life to the meadow. The silence here though is deafening. It's a haunting silence, a silence that reminds me that I'm all alone here. . ._

_. . . until I see the person standing at the other end of the meadow. I can't tell who it is, so I decide to approach her. I only make it a step forward before I hear a rustling in the bushes. I turn my head to see another person coming out from the forest surrounding the meadow. It's hard to tell who it is. He's wearing a dark black suit, with a blood-red dress shirt underneath and a black tie. When he walkes out of the bushes, he walks very gracefully, almost as if he's floating across the grass. He has pale skin, and red eyes that could turn a person to stone. His dirty-blond hair is long, and it's tied into a small ponytail. He looks like someone I used to know._

_After looking at him for a few seconds more, I suddenly realize who it is._

_"Link?" I say in a quiet voice. He looks at me and then begins to walk towards me, his steps quick and graceful. He doesn't say anything as he stands beside me. He looks at the person standing at the other end of the meadow. He begins to walk towards the stranger, so I decide to follow. I walk alongside Link across the meadow, and the other person begins to walk towards us._

_I soon figure out that the person is my mother. I know it's her; she has the same blond hair, crystal-blue eyes and kind smile that I remember as a child. But as we get closer to each other, she starts to look less and less like her. I thought that she was wearing a dress, but it was actually a grey trenchcoat that looked a lot like a tunic, with a belt strapped just below the chest and the end of the tunic that goes just a bit lower on the waist. She's also wearing a pair of sandals, and there are dark sunglasses resting on her head. Her eyes are like Link's - deep red - which isn't right. When we're finally face-to-face, I hold my hand up and wave. But when she waves the exact same way and holds the exact same expression. . . _

_. . . I realize that it's me._

_Now I really don't like what's happening. Looking at this other me, it's like looking into a mirror. And then when I look at my hands and clothes, I realize that it's exactly like a mirror. The only one who isn't reflecting is Link._

_I hate this. Is this me in the future? Is this man Link in the future?_

_I hate it. It's not right. Link looks like a demon. . . and so do I._

_And there's one thing I'm sure of._

_Link is not a demon._

"Hey! It's morning! WAKE UP!"

"Zz. . . wha. . .?" I snorted as I opened my eyes. Makoto was sitting at the foot of my bed.

"Geez, you slept like a freakin' rock!" Makoto snickered. "I was beginning to think you were dead!"

"What time. . . is it. . .?" I asked, letting out a yawn.

"Uh, I think it's around five. . ."

"In the evening?" That couldn't be right. . . I went to bed at eight last night.

"No, in the morning."

"Five in the _morning_?" I exclaimed. I looked out the window. It was definitely five in the morning; the sun wasn't even up yet. It probably wouldn't even start to come up until six or six-thirty.

"Yep, five in the morning, just in time for morning training," Makoto said.

"Oh, so early. . ." I muttered as I got out of bed.

"Yeah, yeah, quit whining about it and get ready." Makoto left the room so I could get dressed.

So, here's basically what happened between now and the time I first got here: after Mimitra (Mimi for short) introduced me to everyone and made me a member of the group, she sent Makoto with me to go back to the castle and get anything I would need. Apparently, because I was new to the group and needed a lot more training, someone in the group who was much more experienced would be assigned to look after me and train me. Because Makoto was the second-strongest, he got the job. Although, unfortunately, he didn't seem to like me that much. He said that training an amateur - a spoiled princess to be more exact - was the last thing he wanted to do. But he ended up losing, mostly by vote, and he got stuck looking after me and keeping me out of trouble. And if there were any missions for me to go on, he would have to come along.

So, here I was, in a creaky old house in the middle of the woods, trying to deal with the fact that I wasn't at the castle anymore. I wasn't going to stay here all the time though; I would soon have to return to Hyrule Castle. But I could at least come in once a day, if not for multiple days at a time. The only one who really kept track of me back at the castle was Impa, and I knew she could keep my sneaking out a secret from the rest of the guards.

The clothes Mimi had packed for me were apparently made specifically by her (how she got my body measurements, I really don't know and I don't want to know). The shirt was just a white shirt made with all sorts of old materials, but they were loose enough to let me move around. The pants were also loose, and I had a pair of sandals for when I had to go walking. She had also given me a bow and a bandanna for my hair in case I ever needed to tie it back.

I left my small room after I was finished getting dressed, where Makoto was waiting for me in the hallway. He was playing with one of his knives. Mimi had told me earlier that I should get to know everyone better on my own, along with what weapons and fighting styles that they used. After being paired up with Makoto, I soon learned that his signature weapons were his twin handguns, and if he couldn't use those, he'd immediately use his knives. He had every type of knife under the sun; hunting knives, throwing knives, knives with shurikens attached to them, knives that were shaped like scythes. . . he even had a few kitchen knives on him! He told me that he had stolen them from a kitchen in the Gerudo Desert one time. Apparently the Gerudos made good kitchen knives. But of course, I could imagine what would have happened had he been caught. . . the Gerudos don't take thievery lightly. Which is hilarious considering their tribe is consisted of all female thieves and thugs. Either way, Makoto was always playing with a knife.

"Alright, I'm all ready," I said to him.

"It's about time," he muttered. "We'll head downstairs so we can meet up with the rest of the guys."

I nodded, and began walking down the stairs that spiralled down to the first floor. Makoto on the other hand, simply jumped off the stair railing and landed on his feet on the first floor. He landed quietly, without making a single sound.

The rest of the group was already downstairs by the time I made it down, all of them wearing weapons attached to their belts and backs. Nearly all of their weapons were resting inside of sheaths, each one a different size for the different swords they used; the only ones who didn't use swords were Makoto, Taishou, and Rei.

"Ah, look who's awake!" Mimi giggled.

"Hey, I'm not used to waking up this early," I muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Mikoshi assured. "We only wake up at five on certain days, other days we wake up at six, sometimes seven."

_T-That's still really early. . ._ I thought.

I looked at Rei Ryuga, who was doing something weird with his fingers. I was smart enough to know that it wasn't sign language, but I still had no idea what he was doing. I hadn't heard him speak at all since I had arrived, and I was starting to believe that he _couldn't_ speak. It was sad too that I couldn't ask him.

Mimi opened the door, and we all headed outside into the crisp morning air. It was cool outside, and the trees were showing the first signs of autumn. The sun still had not begun to rise, but I could see a faint glowing orange line on the horizon where it would start to rise.

Mimi lead us out behind the house, taking us to the clearing where the bonfire had taken place last night. It was brighter now, so I could see the area around us better. There were round target boards set up in the ground, which reminded me a lot of the archers back at the castle, and targets nailed into the trees. There were also scarecrows set up. Some of them were wearing targets on their bellies and faces, and others were wearing wooden buckets on their heads with wooden torsos.

Mimi stopped in front of the group. She turned to us, and smiled. "Okay you guys, you can begin your training for today! Let's do better than last day!" When she declared it, everyone split up and headed to the different target areas that were sitting around, others leaving to completely different areas of the woods.

"Don't forget Makoto-kun, you have to help Zelda-chan!" Mimi reminded.

"Must you say it again?" Makoto hissed. He turned to me, allowing Mimi to leave for her own training. "Alright, newbie, let's get this over with." He directed me to the scarecrows. "Okay, we use these scarecrows for lots of different things, which also includes sword training. You have a sword, right?"

I pulled my sword out from its sheath, its metal blade glimmering from the rising sun. It was just a normal, average-strength double-edged sword; it was all I needed.

"Good," Makoto said. "Then for the next two hours or so, you'll be training with your sword."

And so I did. Makoto taught me the basic sword techniques that I needed to know - techniques that I had seen Link use a million times before. I kind of sucked at it when I began, but the longer I practiced, the better I got. While I was busy sword training, Makoto was shooting the straw out of the scarecrows. And after he had completely destoryed those, he began shooting the targets on the trees. He almost seemed to be smiling as he did it though. It was the kind of crooked, toothy smile that belonged to a crazy person. His eyes were wide as he shot down every single target, like he had achieved a mission by doing so.

"What are you looking at?"

I blinked, and realized that I had unconditionally stopped training and had started watching him.

"Oh, sorry, I. . ."

"Just get back to training," Makoto hissed. "We don't have all day!"

I sighed, and went back to hitting the scarecrow dummy with my sword. Three hours straight.

After a while, Makoto stopped my training.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You're done sword training for now," he said. I put away my sword. "It's time for your next lesson." He looked around, and then he began climbing up an apple tree as quickly and fluently as a monkey. He grabbed an apple off one of the branches, and then jumped back down. "Okay, this training lesson is supposed to increase your speed, accuracy, and defense."

I stared at him funny.

_It's an apple,_ I thought dumbly.

Makoto tossed the apple into the air and then caught it again, mostly for his own amusement. "Alright, you all set?"

"What am I supposed to-" I didn't get to finish my sentence before the apple was out of his hands and in the air. Before I even had a chance to think, the apple had hit my arm. "Ow! What the hell?" I hissed.

"Ow. . .?" Makoto snickered. "Pathetic! In a real mission, you're going to be hit with swords, knives, and other things that are much worse than an apple! Yeah, it'll hurt, but you gotta get used to it!" He kicked the tree, and another apple fell out from the branches and into his hand. "Okay, now I'm just gonna do it again. Are you ready?"

"I see that I don't really have much choice!" I objected.

"That's the spirit!" He threw the apple, this time hitting me in the leg. Ow. I had to start focusing more on dodging and less on just standing there and letting him pelt me with apples.

We continued my 'training' for the next hour. After about a half hour though, I got used to it.

By the time it was over, it was only nine in the morning. What a long day. . . and we were going to keep training until six! Long, long, long!

When Makoto was finally through throwing apples at me, I was bruised all over. I was even more bruised than the _apples_ themselves.

And Makoto was laughing.

"Can we please do something else now?" I asked.

We suddenly both heard a loud whistling noise. I fell to my knees. "Augh! What the hell is that? It's so loud!" I held my hands over my ears, trying to block out the terrible noise. Now, don't get me wrong, but Hylians are like dogs when it comes to our hearing. What Makoto heard was probably just a whistle, and it probably wasn't as loud as it should have been because it was coming all the way from the other side of the forest. Now for _Hylians_. . . it's a different story. If you were to blow a whistle near a Hylian, you would end up torturing them, maybe even _killing_ them. Our hearing reacts to loud sounds like dogs to dog whistles. Even if you managed to find a sound that the human ear couldn't hear normally, a Hylian would be able to pick it up just like a regular sound. It was just the way we were born.

When the horrible sound was gone and the ringing sound had finally disappeared from my head, I stood up from the ground.

"Oh, must be time for group training. . ." Makoto said calmly. I wanted to strangle him. "We should go. Come on." He began to walk away from me towards the house, so I followed him. I was hoping that I would not have to hear that terrible noise again.

"Where are we going? What's group training?" I asked.

Makoto sighed. "So many questions. . ." he complained.

We soon came to a clearing in the forest, far from the house and bonfire area, only this one was much bigger. All the trees had been completely wiped out, and it was clearly not caused naturally. It was really quiet here; there weren't even any birds or squirrels around here. There must have been a reason for them to stay away.

"W-What's going on?" I asked nervously as I examined the quiet empty area around us.

"Once a day, sometimes twice a day, we all gather for a group training session, when we try our hardest to beat the crap out of each other," Makoto replied, laughing after he finished his sentence. "We shoot each other, punch each other, sometimes we even seriously injure each other. . . heh heh, I remember this one time when-"

He never finished his sentence before a knife flew out from the air and towards him. He simply snickered to himself and lifted his handgun, blocking the black knife with the back of his weapon. The knife bounced off the gun and fell onto the ground.

"Anyways, like I was saying. . ." Makoto continued as if nothing had ever happened. ". . . one time I was fighting Higashizawa, and one of my knives activated themselves, and I could have sworn that it went straight through his stomach. . . he wouldn't stop barfing the rest of the week, it was disgusting."

I bit my lip, unable to take my eyes off the knife in the ground that had nearly hit him. He didn't seem to care at all about the sudden ambush. . . maybe there _was_ a reason why he was number two.

Makoto turned around to where the knife had fired at him, and held his gun up, aiming it at the spot. "Alright, alright, let's try not to act cool. Where are you? Quit hiding like the loser you are."

I watched as the leaves in the tree he was aiming at began to move, until the entire branch moved away, revealing Taishou sitting on a thick strong tree branch.

"Oh, it's you. . ." Makoto muttered, lowering his handgun. "No point in shooting you then. . ."

"Wait, was that an insult?" Taishou hissed. "Come on, that's no way to act in front of a lady! Especially someone like the Princess Zelda! Show some respect for your comrades! Have some-"

Makoto didn't let him finish his sentence, and fired a bullet at him. Taishou jumped into the air, just barely missing the bullet, and flipped in the air as he dove down with his fist. His huge fist hit the ground, causing a small tremor in the earth followed by a few cracks growing in the dirt, and he used his other hand to balance himself, cartwheeling himself back onto his feet.

"Bring it on, Takahashi!" Taishou laughed.

". . .Hah, you said that's no way to act in front of a lady!" Makoto laughed. "Yeah, I'm fightin' one right now, you bastard. . ."

Taishou turned red, and then grit his teeth in sheer anger. "That does it, you're asking for death!" He bashed his fists together before charging at Makoto like a mad cow.

"Zelda, if you don't mind, stand back while I kick this bastard's ass. . ." Makoto said nicely to me.

I had no choice but to nod. I backed up, not wanting to be caught in the middle of their coming fight. Makoto spun around just in time to meet Taishou's fist with his handgun. He pushed Taishou away, and then flipped into the air, kicking Taishou right in the face. Taishou flipped back, but soon somer-saulted back onto his feet again. For a big guy like him, he sure knew how to control himself in a battle. . . he really didn't look like a person who could do backwards somersaults or cartwheels.

"Take this, dumbass!" Taishou screamed as he brought his metal-gloved fist back up to Makoto. This time his fist actually met Makoto's face, blowing the short boy back like he had been hit by a two-ton truck. Makoto fell onto the ground, unable to recoil like Taishou had. His nose was bleeding; despite how painful and powerful the punch looked, it really didn't do a lot of damage to him. Although, I was sure Makoto was used to getting punched by Taishou.

Makoto wiped the blood from his nose before getting back up to his feet, a little loopy from the strong impact. He reached into the gun holster on his belt and pulled out his second handgun, clicking both the tips of the guns together before flipping them in his hands as he approached Taishou. He clicked his teeth together once, his eyes wide with insanity.

"Aw, dammit, now I got you all pissed off. . ." Taishou hissed to himself. But he didn't back out from the fight, and he readied his metal-gloved fists again. They approached each other, both of them having the same crazy and yet amused smiles on their faces. This was definitely a battle I didn't want to get involved in.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, only to meet with Rei Ryuga.

"W-What?" I stammered. I was praying in my head that he wouldn't be here to attack me too.

He started to make symbols with his hands.

"I-I don't understand!"

I looked at Makoto, who was backing up to me. He flipped into the air, dodging another punch from Taishou, and landed right next to me. He looked at Rei once and then looked at me.

"He says he wants to battle you," Makoto translated for me.

I looked at Rei, who had a serious look on his face.

"I don't know. . . I'm not really good yet. . ."

Rei began making more signs with his hands.

Makoto shot a bullet at Taishou, blowing the huge guy at least ten feet away. He didn't seem to be wounded though.

"He also says that he'll go easy on you for the sake of your training," Makoto said as he reloaded his handguns with another row of bullets. "Might as well, it's better than watching me and Taishou and wasting training time. . ." Makoto jumped on ahead, his handguns ready to fire again.

I turned back to Rei, who was now twitching his fingers around, in ways that I knew wasn't sign language.

"Um, alright, if you think it'll help my training. . ." I said nervously. I had to learn some of that sign language. . .

Rei nodded, a slight smile growing on his face. He reached up and removed the sunglasses from his eyes, revealing his golden-yellow eyes. That was definitely something I hadn't seen before: a person with yellow eyes. He looked like a cat with them, and it was actually pretty cool. Rei grabbed my arm and began pulling me away from Taishou and Makoto's battle, taking me to another clearing in the woods where no one was fighting. After we had stopped, Rei stood across from me and pointed at my sheath. I realized what he was saying, and pulled my sword out. He nodded in approval, and then backed up from me. He held his hands up to shoulder-height, and then cringed his fingers so that each one was bent towards him. Silver-blue strings suddenly appeared around his fingers, each one tied tightly around his skin. The strings lead straight into the ground. He twitched his fingers upwards, and then the ground in front of us began to crack and crumble away. I watched in fear and amazement as something began to rise from the ground below. Two things in fact.

The first thing to rise was a tall mannequin, one that looked a lot like a human girl that was my age. She had stitches sewn across her eyes, arms and legs, like her body had been completely sewn together, and she had long black hair, with sad blue eyes. Her skin was a pale white, and her entire body looked like it was composed of just skin and bones.

The second thing to rise was another puppet, but it was shaped like a bird, an eagle to be more exact. It also seemed to be stitched together like the girl. Rei twitched his left hand, and the bird flew up onto his shoulder, letting out a cold sharp cry afterwards.

I wanted to ask questions. But I couldn't. How could I when I knew that I wouldn't get any answers from Rei? I just had to come to the conclusion that this boy. . . was a human puppeteer. I remembered back to the lessons that my teacher had given me when I was ten, when I had gotten my teacher to talk to me about fighting. One thing he told me about was the art of puppetering - a very twisted, sick fighting style, causing a person's magical power to be forged into strings, allowing a person to control human or animal corpses at their own will. It was sick to listen to, but now that I was seeing this fighting style remade right in front of my very eyes. . . it was scary.

I took a deep breath, trying to forget that this was one of the most sickening fighting styles ever, and then I prepared my sword, staring at Rei only. I had to take care of these puppets first though. . . otherwise I would never get close to him. Mimi had told me that this boy was just one rank ahead of me, and he had just joined a couple weeks before me, so he was still considered a 'newbie'.

I held my sword high as I charged at Rei, my heart pounding mostly in nervousness. Rei slightly grinned, and suddenly the girl puppet lunged at me like a zombie, its sewn arms outstretched at me. It opened its mouth, its teeth sharp like fangs. It flew at me, the strings on its body extending longer and longer. I swung my blade at the puppet, striking it right in the torso. No blood was shed. It was like striking wood almost, but it had a softer feeling, like cotton. . . I couldn't put my finger on what these puppets were made of.

Rei smiled slightly again, as if happy to see my progress in my training. The bird on his shoulder flew upwards, and dove down at me, opening its beak. I looked up at it, but I was unable to attack before I was struck in the shoulder by something. I looked at my shoulder to see a thin line of blood quickly trailing down my arm. I looked back at the eagle, and saw that it had small needles, almost like acupuncture needles, hidden inside its beak. So these puppets were fully loaded with weapons now. . . although I should have expected it.

I jumped into the air and struck down the eagle with my sword, giving me an advantage on the battle. Although I had the feeling that Rei was going a little too easy on me. . . but I didn't want to push it too hard either.

I ran at Rei with my sword. The strings around his fingers suddenly broke, as if someone had cut them away with a knife, and he bent down before I had a chance to swing my sword at him. I stopped in surprise at hs actions. I looked back at the puppets. They were disappearing into twilight.

I looked back at Rei, who was staring up at me now. He pulled out a notebook from his pocket, along with a pen, and began to write something down. Then he held the notebook towards me, allowing me to see the words that were written down.

_Good job, you're pretty good for a newbie._

I blinked in surprise at his sudden hidden kindness, and then I smiled. I bowed in respect of his fighting skills, and then he bowed to me.

"Zelda! Hey Zelda!"

I turned around to see Makoto walking to me, his handguns clutched in his hands, Taishou walking from behind him. I could see a lot of blood running down Taishou's shoulder.

"Goddess Din, what happened to you, Taishou?" I asked worriedly when I saw the wound.

Taishou smiled, laughing under his breath. "You don't need to worry so much, it's no big deal. Makoto just got one of his knives on me, that's all. . ."

I looked at Makoto with an angry look. "I'm surprised you didn't kill him by shooting him!"

Makoto laughed at my words. "Nah, I can't use real bullets for training. I just launch off my Soul power through my guns. I can only use real bullets on missions so that I don't hurt my teammates." He sounded really disappointed by that statement.

I sighed in relief, and then I looked back at Taishou, who was wrapping his wound under a bandage.

"Well, stop wasting time!" Makoto said. "Let's get some more training in before evening!"

After waiting so long, six o'clock finally hit, ending our training for the day. I was tired, I felt sick, and my clothes and skin were covered in dirt. Because we were having another bonfire tonight, I ran back into the house to quickly wash some of the visible mud off my skin. After I looked cleaner (although I sure didn't feel it) I ran back outside, where everyone was sitting in the same spots where they had sat the first night. The only place where I could see an empty spot was next to. . . Higashizawa Takahashi? He had such a long weird name, it was hard to remember. But there was no place else to sit, so I sat next to him. He looked at me once, and then began to stare at the fire in the middle of the circle of logs. Everyone seemed to be having conversations with each other.

"Um. . ." I said under my breath, although it seemed like I was talking to myself more. "Y-You're Higashizawa, right?" I asked the man who was sitting next to me. _Why in the world am I so nervous?_ I thought, scolding myself. _You've talked to a million people in your lifetime, and yet you can't even start a conversation with this regular person? _But maybe it was the fact that he had much more to live up to than me, and was much stronger than me. I was a stranger here, a person who had just appeared out of nowhere. . . all these people had been training for a long time, all of them working so hard to achieve their own goals. I had no idea that a group like this was running around in Hyrule, doing the things that the Hyrule Castle guards couldn't, or wouldn't even_ think_ of doing. These people were reckless and yet extremely powerful outcasts, people who wouldn't let anyone else get in their way.

"Um. . ." I muttered again, even more nervous because the man hadn't responded to my question.

He turned to me with a small smile on his face. "Geez, calm down, you're acting like you're talking to the Goddess Nayru or something! Yeah, I'm Higashizawa. It's a pleasure to meet you, Zelda." He held his hand out. I hesitated, but then took his hand and shook it. His skin was rough and callused, revealing all the work he had been putting into training and fighting.

"You sure are brave to come all the way out here on your own," Higashizawa mumbled as he turned his gaze back to the fire.

"Well, I didn't come all by myself," I replied. "I still have Zero with me."

"Oh yeah, the Twili girl. Princess of Light and a Twili creature working together. . . that's rather interesting. . ."

"Hm, I didn't really want to work with her at first, I was kind of forced to do it. . . but I've gotten used to her, and she's actually really fun to hang around with."

"It's nice to have a friend that's from a different world, isn't it?"

"I guess you could say that." _Although Zero's not the only friend from a different world. . . _I thought. _Uzuki, Yashiro, Mitsuhiro, Shuto. . . they're all from the Dark Realm. Hm, I should try to find out more about Higashizawa's relation to Yashiro. . . but I can't let him know that she's a Reaper, otherwise I'm done for._

"So, Taishou told me that he has a younger sister named Uzuki," I began. _Yeah, that's a good way to start off._

"What a poor sight that must have been. . ." Higashizawa muttered under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Uzuki. . . died in a car accident several years ago. Makoto was the only one that saw it happen, and he claims that she was murdered."

"Murdered?" That didn't sound right at all.

"Makoto saw Uzuki crossing the street, and in a split second she was on the ground, some other guy next to her. Makoto claims that he pushed her in front of the car."

I widened my eyes. "That's terrible!"

"Apparently, his name was Mitsuhiro. Makoto knew the guy through Uzuki and Yashiro, but the two never really liked each other. They'd put on an act of friendship in front of everyone else, but there was always a battle going on in their heads. They just never seemed to become friends. And now because of this theory. . . the reason Makoto joined this group was so that he could become stronger and kill Mitsuhiro."

"To avenge Uzuki's death?" I asked.

"To make matters worse, not only did Uzuki die, but Yashiro died just a few days after. . . my sister. Makoto joined this group to avenge not only Uzuki's death, but also Yashiro's."

"But Mitsuhiro couldn't have murdered Yashiro if he was already dead!" This was all making less and less sense to me.

"I don't really believe that half either, but. . ." He reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a stained piece of white paper. He unfolded it and handed it to me. It appeared to be very old, and I could see the brown lines where the paper had been folded over and over again. When I finally turned it over and squinted hard enough from the harsh darkness, I saw what was drawn and written on the paper. A black 'x' was painted on the paper, its style of artwork nearly resembling blood splattering, and a very distorted little message was written at the bottom.

_TrY aNd KILL mE. _

_MiTSuHirO MiNaMimOtO_

I had to read over it a few more times to figure out what the distorted penmanship said, but once I did figure it out, I shuddered in fear. The Mitsuhiro that I knew was a scary person, but he couldn't have been the one to kill Uzuki and Yashiro. Especially since I knew that Mitsuhiro and Uzuki were really close. . . and Yashiro wouldn't have been working with him if he had murdered her. But maybe. . . the two just didn't know about it.

I handed the sheet of paper back to Higashizawa, and he folded it back up, putting it back into his pocket.

"So Makoto joined so he could avenge Uzuki and Yashiro's deaths, huh?" I asked.

"Indeed," Higashizawa answered. "And he dragged me along too. . . however I don't believe that Mitsuhiro murdered Uzuki or Yashiro. It must all just be a misunderstanding. . ."

"Hm, hopefully. But. . ." I looked at Taishou and Mikoshi. "Why are those two here?"

"Mikoshi and Taishou are Uzuki's older brothers. When Uzuki died, the two also somewhat believed that she was murdered, due to Makoto's theory. But I can't help but feel that they also joined so that they could forget about their sister's death. The two just don't act the same as they used to. Although I never really knew the two before they joined this group. They are a strange group indeed."

"Um, what about Rei? He doesn't seem to talk. Do you know why?"

"I'd tell you if I could, but. . . I promised him I would not tell a soul about his situation."

"Was he born like that then? Can you tell me that?"

"He was certainly not born like that. He lost his speech on his own. . . I'm sorry, but I can't say anymore."

_What is so wrong about Rei that Higashizawa can't even tell me about?_ I thought. _Something's not right about that boy. . . _I looked at Rei, who was speaking sign language to Mimi. If Higashizawa couldn't tell me, then maybe later, I could ask Mimi to tell me.

"What about Mimi?" I asked, hoping it would be my last question.

"Mimi is our leader. It's as plain as that," Higashizawa answered. "She's the one who made the group, and she found all of us on her own. Although there is one thing about her that I can reveal. . ."

"And what is that?" I asked.

". . . Mimitra Takumi is _not_ a human, a fairy, or a Reaper."


	46. Bring on the Challenge

**The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate**

**Chapter 44 3/3: Bring on the Challenge**

"Makoto! Toss me down that knife, would ya?"

Makoto looked down at me from the balcony, and tossed down one of the knives that was sitting on the balcony's railing. I caught it by the handle, and I cut the shoelaces on my boots so that they were shorter. Every time the ends would wear out, I would end up cutting them off and making the shoelaces shorter and shorter. I would have to get a new set soon.

"Zelda, I'd like the knife back please!" Makoto called in a harsh tone. I scowled at his attitude, and I threw the knife back up at him with speed and precision. He ducked, and the knife flew into the wall of the house. Had he not ducked, I would have struck him right in the face.

"Hey, watch where you throw that thing!" Makoto hissed.

"Don't be so rude then!" I yelled back, pointing up at him. I bent down and began tying my shoelaces again, this time the process being extra challenging now with the new shorter shoelaces. I had to admit, I had changed a lot in the past few weeks. I didn't care much for being organized or punctual; all I cared about was getting to my training sessions each day and doing better every time. And I did get better. Makoto had changed from throwing apples at me to throwing knives at me, so I had become very accustomed to pain. I had cuts, bruises, and even a few scars all over my arms and legs, and my face always had a bit of dirt on it.

Makoto jumped down from the balcony and onto the ground in front of me. The two of us had become better friends now too. He didn't look at me as some spoiled princess anymore; now he looked at me as part of the team. I had finally gained the guy's respect.

Makoto held up the knife that I had thrown at him and placed it to my face. "Don't threaten me with my own knives, you hear?" he hissed. "You may be stronger, but you still can't overthrow-"

I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed his arm. I hit my other arm into his back, flipping him onto the ground. He looked at me with a surprised look, and I looked down at him with a smug smile on my face.

"You were saying?" I laughed.

Makoto groaned in defeat and jumped up from the ground. "Ugh, that doesn't prove a thing!" he grumbled as he put away his knife. "So you can flip me, big deal. . ."

_Aw, you just don't want to cope with defeat!_ I thought as I smiled at him.

_That was pretty cool though Zelda. . . you sure have been getting stronger,_ Zero said inside my mind.

_What, you haven't been paying attention?_

_I've been, uh, busy. . . doing stuff. . ._

_Sure, sure, suit yourself._

Taishou ran over to the two of us from the direction of the free-for-all clearing (I called it that because it was the spot where everyone fought against each other with no restrictions). He slid to a stop in front of us, and bent down to catch his breath. He seemed to have been running for a long time.

"Geez Taishou, spit it out already," Makoto muttered.

"Mimi. . . needs you. . .!" Taishou breathed loudly.

"What is it?" Makoto asked.

Taishou took another deep breath. "She. . . needs you and Zelda. . ."

"Needs who and who?" Makoto asked, a smile growing on his face. Now I could tell he was just being mean.

Taishou grabbed Makoto's jacket collar in anger and glared at him. "Go find MIMI!" he screamed.

"Heh, heh, heard you loud and clear. . ." Makoto swallowed in fear. Taishou released his hold on Makoto's jacket and then left us, heading inside so he could get his air back without having to speak.

"Well, I guess we gotta go see what Mimi wants. . ." Makoto muttered. He turned back to me. "We'd better go now and see what's up." I sighed, and began to follow Makoto through the cleared path of the forest. It had been several weeks since I had first joined, and things were starting to look up for me. I was having the time of my life here, despite all the pain I had to go through in a day from training. But I had really gotten stronger; I could beat Rei in a battle now, so my ranking had risen above him. I was on my way to defeating the next in line, Mikoshi Kasahara. But I wanted to keep moving up, to keep getting stronger until I was strong enough to defeat Makoto. Not only was he now a good friend of mine, he was also my rival. For hours on end we would compete to see who could do more push-ups, or who could throw knives the fastest or the farthest. Half of the time though we would be laughing our heads off because we were having too much fun. Although no matter how long I trained, or how many ranks I wanted to move up, I had never once gone on a mission. Things were quiet, and whenever a mission did come around, I was never strong enough to tackle them, and Makoto, Mimi, or Taishou would leave, sometimes all together as a group.

Soon we saw Mimi on the path, sitting against a tree. When she saw us, she smiled and stood up, walking towards us with a happy look on her face. Something good was up, but I wasn't quite sure.

"What's up Mimi?" Makoto asked her.

Mimi crossed her arms. "I just got a report from Taishou today. Turns out one of our old 'friends' is stuck and she needs someone to escort and protect her all the way from the Gerudo Desert to Hyrule Castle Town."

"Gerudo Desert? Is she a Gerudo?" I asked curiously.

"No, but she's very close to one of the people there, so she's allowed to go there whenever she wants. Unfortunately, while she was in the desert, the monsters suddenly multiplied in Hyrule Field, and she can't protect herself on her own."

Makoto bit his fingernail. "But wait. . . you said it's one of our old friends. Who is it? It can't be Victoria. . . can't she defend herself on her own?"

"Actually, you're right, it _is_ Victoria."

_Victoria? I've never heard of her,_ I thought. _She can't be a member of this group. . . maybe she knows Mimi?_

"So you want me to escort her to Hyrule Castle Town?" Makoto asked.

"Not just you, Zelda too," Mimi answered.

I widened my eyes, and my jaw dropped. "W-What? You want me to go on a mission?"

Mimi smiled at me. "Well, you might as well go on this one! It's perfect for you, and Victoria only classified it as a low rank mission, so you shouldn't have any difficulties."

I was still surprised, and ecstatic. I ran up and gave Mimi a huge hug.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said over and over again. Mimi giggled at my sudden excitement. I knew that she didn't mind enthusiasm.

"It's no problem at all," Mimi laughed, and pushed me away. "You leave immediately, with Makoto, and you're heading to the Gerudo Desert, alright?"

"No problem!" I exclaimed, giving her a high-five.

I heard Makoto groan. "It's just a low rank mission, nothing to get excited about!" he yelled. "Would you hurry it up?"

I rolled my eyes and then left Mimi, following Makoto through the woods, past the house and back to the entrance at the graveyard. I had explained to Dampe the grave keeper that the people out in the woods meant no harm to him or anyone else, and after a lot of debating with him, I finally convinced him to let us stay in the woods. We walked past the huge Sheikah grave that was near the graveyard entrance, and then we walked down the path to the village of Kakariko.

"Is there anything you need to grab here before we leave?" Makoto asked me.

"Hm, would it be alright if I picked up some purple potions while we're here?" I asked. "It may be a low rank mission, but you can never be too sure."

Makoto waved his hand at me, telling me it was alright to go. I smiled and turned around, heading to the small potion store that was near the gate to Death Mountain. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the scent of strong potions. The man at the counter waved at me, a wide smile on his face.

"Hey hey!" he greeted happily. I pulled out one hundred rupees, and pointed at the purple potion on the shelf.

"Two please," I said. I reached into my back pocket and grabbed two small empty bottles. The man turned around and grabbed the large bottle of purple potion from the shelf, and then began filling my smaller bottles with the substance.

"Huh, you don't look like you're from around here," the man said to me as he filled the second bottle.

"I'm, uh, from the city," I replied.

The man stared at me for a second. "You look pretty beat up for a girl from the city."

_Gee, that's what every girl loves to hear,_ Zero giggled sarcastically.

"I, uh, live in the alleyways and I have a lot of brothers and sisters. . ." I lied. "I've always got my hands full."

"Sounds like it," the man chuckled before handing me the two now filled bottles.

"Thank you very much." I took the bottles and put them back in their spot in my bag, and then turned for the door, leaving the shop and heading back to where Makoto was waiting by the big tree in the front area of the village.

"Got what you needed?" Makoto asked me.

"Yep, I'm all ready to go now," I replied.

"We'd better hurry then, the Gerudo Desert is nearly two days away on foot. And it's not a good idea to keep Victoria waiting." Makoto began walking to the exit of the village, and I followed close behind, until we descended down the stairs and entered Hyrule Field.

* * *

Thankfully, it didn't take two days to get to our destination. We ran a lot of the way, and rested only a few times. We decided to take the simplest path, the one we knew was quickest and barely had any monsters. When we left Kakariko, we headed in the direction of Hyrule Castle Town, following the border of Hyrule Field, past the city and around Lon Lon Ranch, until we reached the canyons that bordered the Gerudo Desert. We didn't even have any problems getting into the fortress, which was a big surprise to me. The Gerudos, as I knew them, were always so protective of their identity, and they did not take trespassers in like family.

Makoto, having knowing the area better than me, lead me into the main fortress area of the Gerudo's base, walking me into one of the stone buildings. He lead me down several hallways, past lots of jails, until we came into one of the kitchen areas of the base. Makoto went up to one of the Gerudo women.

"Excuse me, can you spare a minute?" Makoto asked nicely.

The Gerudo thief jumped in surprised, and pulled out a knife, threatening to attack him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Makoto sighed, and pulled out a piece of paper. He showed it to the woman. She widened her eyes, looked back at him, and then nodded, putting her knife away.

"I'm so sorry, Takahashi-san!" she apologized, bowing before him. "I did not realize it was you!"

"It's alright, I understand," Makoto said, putting the paper away. "Anyway, we're looking for a woman named Victoria. She's about this tall. . ." He held his hand up way above his head. ". . . and she has blond hair. She's kind of a big person, really hard to miss around here. Would you have seen her today?"

"Oh yes, a woman like that came here asking if she could try our food," she replied. "Such a city girl she is. . . maybe you could find her at the monster challenge rooms. . . you know where that is, right?"

Makoto nodded. "Thanks." We turned around, and he lead me back outside again. He lead me to an area where it had a somewhat slope up a hill. Before the hill though, there was another stone building, and the door was just a giant hole. There was a lady standing next to it. Makoto pulled out the sheet of paper again and waved it at the woman. She nodded, and let him pass into the building.

"What is that thing anyways?" I asked, staring at the piece of paper as he put it back into his pocket.

"It's kind of like a certificate stating complete access to the Gerudo Fortress," he explained. "They're pretty hard to get though. You have to gain the Gerudo's complete trust."

"Oh. . ."

_They'd be impossible for me to get then, _I thought. _The Gerudo tribe hasn't had many good times with the Hylians. . . _

The two of us suddenly felt a small tremor in the floor, followed by a yell.

"Ah, that must be Victoria!" Makoto exclaimed happily. "Come on Zelda, she's just down this way!"

_What, does this girl weigh a ton? Makoto said she was big, but she can't be that big! _

I ran behind Makoto as we went through a red door, taking us into a large round room, torches lining the walls. It was like a miniature coliseum in here. In the center of the room was a Gerudo, wielding two short curved swords, and across from her was a blond-haired woman carrying a huge stone hammer twice her own size. The woman had a big build, and was wearing a pair of tight brown shorts and one of the shirts that you would normally see city girls wearing, a white shirt made from the finest fabrics that Hyrule Castle Town had to offer.

"Hey Victoria!" Makoto yelled, placing his hands around his mouth. The woman looked at him, and smiled, her eyes widening.

"Makoto! How's it been?" she yelled back. The Gerudo charged at her. "Oh, just a second hun, gotta take care of this Gerudo woman first!" The woman named Victoria ran towards the Gerudo, and leaped into the air, swinging the huge hammer high above her head as if it were as light as a feather, bringing the head of the hammer down and striking the ground. The floor shook, and the Gerudo woman fell to her knees.

"You win, you win!" the Gerudo woman cried, raising her hands and dropping her swords to surrender.

"Ha, that'll teach you to pick a fight with Victoria of Hyrule Castle Town!" Victoria declared, doing a victory pose before tying her hammer down onto her back with a leather strap. The Gerudo woman sneered at her, and then left without saying another word. After she was done celebrating, Victoria ran up to us, a huge smile on her face. She immediately grabbed Makoto and brought him into a huge hug. And I mean a _huge_ hug. She was twice the size he was, in height and weight. She was even bigger than the size Yashiro had been the last time I saw her!

"Makoto!" Victoria laughed. "It's so good to see you again, sweetums! What's up?"

"For one, you're suffocating me!" Makoto hissed. Victoria looked down at him, and then pulled him away from her big hug.

"Sorry, but it's been so long! How are you?"

"I-I'm good. What about you?"

"Couldn't be better, hun!"

_Why does she keep calling him that?_ I thought.

_She's a city girl, no doubt,_ Zero replied, although I wasn't exactly asking her.

"Oh, that's right, you're here to help me get to Hyrule Castle Town, aren't you?" Victoria asked. "Aw, you do care!" She tried to bring Makoto into another hug, but he jumped away before she got the chance.

"Victoria, is it really necessary for us to protect you?" he asked. "You nearly squashed that Gerudo woman! Are you telling me you can't handle a few everyday monsters?"

"Well, half the reason is because I wanted to see one of your group's faces again!" Victoria giggled. "Oh, how's my Mimi doing?"

"She's just as annoying as ever. And she won't stop making clothes. . ."

"That's my girl! These clothes were custom made you know!" She pointed at her shirt, shorts and sandals.

"That's great. . ." I could tell Makoto was just trying to end the conversation and get moving.

Victoria looked at me in surprise, as if she hadn't noticed me standing right behind Makoto.

"Aw, who's this?" Victoria asked. "A new member of the group?"

"Yes, it's the Princess Zelda," Makoto said.

_Thank you, Makoto, for telling it to her,_ I thought angrily. _That'll really make everything so much easier!_

"Princess Zelda!" Victoria exclaimed in sheer excitement. She got down on her knees and bowed. "Goddess Nayru, it is such an honor to meet you here!"

"Um, you don't have to treat me this way, really," I said.

"But. . . you have everything! You have the entire kingdom under your thumb, and you have everything you could have ever wanted!"

". . .Not everything. . ." I muttered.

"Hm? But wait, why are you working here with Makoto?"

"It's a long story. . ."

"Well, you can tell me all about it on the way back to Castle Town! Until then though, you two are going to have to get me out of here in one piece!" Then she bent down next to me, and whispered in my ear, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not, it's my job," I giggled.

"Thank you so much," she giggled back.

"Quit your girly chatter and let's get moving," Makoto yelled.

"Ugh, always in such a big rush to do things!" Victoria sighed. She grabbed my arm and begin pulling me behind her like I was her best friend, taking me back outside into the sunshine. She was so energetic, and frankly, I didn't mind it. It was nice to talk to someone like her, someone who was happy all the time and not seeming to worry about the troubles of the world.

* * *

We ran into trouble on the way out of the fortress.

When we made it to the outskirts of the fortress, approaching the bridge, there were five people cloaked in black robes waiting for anyone who may have been wanting to cross. When we tried to move past them, they stopped us, pushing us back onto the cliff that lead to the fortress.

"Hold it," one of them said. I could tell that this person was a female by her sharp voice and slender figure.

"What is it?" I asked. "Why won't you let us pass?"

"It's almost night time, and it's unsafe to travel through Hyrule Field due to the conditions of the current situation of Hyrule."

"Conditions of the current situation?" I asked.

"Yes. Things have been getting worse in Hyrule, especially at night."

The second person who was there walked up to us. He was definitely a guy.

"We're really sorry, but we're afraid you can't cross until morning."

"That is a load of bullshit," Makoto hissed as he walked up to the man. I flinched from Makoto's sudden swearing.

The two cloaked figures stopped, not saying a word. The man kept staring at him, and the woman looked away.

"What's your problem all of a sudden?" Makoto asked.

"I-I can't believe it. . ." the woman stammered under her breath. The man still didn't say anything. I could see him scowl at Makoto though from under the darkness of his hood. I could barely even see their faces; all I could see was the slight light of their skin and their dark hair hanging by their faces.

The three other cloaked people came up to us.

"What's up?" one of them asked, another female. When she saw Makoto, I could see her jaw drop. "Ah!" she exclaimed, and backed up. "N-No way!"

"What is wrong with all of you?" I asked. One of the other members didn't seem to be paying any attention to what was happening. The moment I spoke though, the last person cloaked in black raised his head, and ran to me, instead of Makoto. He stared at me, his face directly parallel to mine.

"Uh, h-hi," he stammered.

"What the. . . who are you?"

"Eh. . . never mind. . ." He turned around, and walked back to his previous spot, leaning against the rope of the bridge.

"Look, could we please just pass?" Victoria asked. "It's kind of an emergency!"

The first woman looked back at Victoria, and widened her eyes. "Um, n-no, I'm sorry, but you can't! No matter who you are, you can't cross until morning!"

"Friggin' jackasses. . ." Makoto hissed under his breath as he turned around. The woman and the man cloaked in black stared at him for a split second, and he stared back, until he turned his gaze and headed to the tent. Victoria and I looked at the people one last time and then left to follow Makoto.

"What do we do now?" I asked. "We can't cross, and there's no other way. . ."

Makoto didn't seem to be paying any attention though. He was too busy staring at the people. Did he know them? And why did they suddenly act all strange like that? And how did that person know me?

"This stinks," Victoria sighed. "But. . . we could take the river."

"That's like a thirty-foot jump!" Makoto exclaimed, suddenly back in the conversation.

"Yeah, but I've seen people jump and live! Uzuki and I used to jump down all the time, and nothing ever happened to us!"

Makoto cringed when he heard that sentence, and he looked back at the people on the bridge.

"You. . . know Uzuki too?" I asked.

"Wow, she must be famous," Victoria giggled. "She's like, my best friend."

I bit my lip. How many more people did Uzuki possibly know?

"Darn it, my younger sister is going to have a fit if I'm late getting home," Victoria groaned.

"Don't worry, we'll get you back," I said. "I say we should go along with your plan. Let's jump into the river."

"And if we get killed?" Makoto asked.

"It's not like we have any other options! We could fight those guys to get across, but they outnumber us by two, and they look strong!"

Makoto rubbed his chin, and then sighed, raising his arms in defeat. "Alright, fine, we'll jump. Just don't blame me if anything bad happens. We don't have wings like Reapers do."

I nodded, although I was confused about his sudden knowledge of the Reapers. Higashizawa had never mentioned that to me, nor had anyone else that Makoto knew about Reapers. Although Higashizawa seemed to know about them.

Makoto, Victoria and I walked back to the cliff, far away from the bridge so that the people in the robes wouldn't notice us. Then, all at once so that no one would chicken out, we leaped into the air, diving and falling down towards the water below. I was scared out of my mind. I had never experienced something like this before, but it was still kind of fun. I had to admit though, I wasn't looking forward to hitting the water. That would probably hurt. It only took a few seconds for us to reach the bottom and hit the water, all of our bodies slapping the water and making big splashes. We all fell underneath the water, and like buoys, rose back up again. I wasn't too happy about getting my clothes wet though.

"That was fun!" I exclaimed.

"Well, at least I'm not dead. . ." Makoto sighed.

"Ah! My clothes are getting ruined! Let's get out fast!" Victoria squealed, and swam out of the water, climbing up onto the rocky area next to the river.

"Hey, get back in the water Victoria!" Makoto yelled. "We need to swim in the river all the way down to Lake Hylia!"

"Fine, but you're paying for a new outfit!" Victoria jumped back into the water, and then rose back up with an angry look on her face. "That's five hundred rupees you owe me!"

Makoto let out a cry.

**

* * *

**

A Very Short Interlude

Zelda and Victoria swam ahead, leaving Makoto behind. He looked back up at the bridge, where the people above had noticed their escaping. He especially noticed the man and woman that had told them to leave, the people that he wished he wouldn't have to see. Those two people glared down at him, and then the second woman came to watch him too. He stared up at the three robed figures, and then grinned.

"Ah, Uzuki, Mitsuhiro, Yashiro, you two are sure asking for trouble, aren't you?" he laughed to himself. "Dammit, I really wish I hadn't run into you while you were like this, sister. . . and Uzuki."

Makoto looked forward again and swam as fast as he could to catch up with the girls, his swimming speeding up thanks to the moving currents of the river. He looked at his sister, his best friend, and his enemy one more time before falling down the small waterfall.

**

* * *

**

Chapter 44 3/3 (continued)

All Victoria and I did was chat the entire time back to Hyrule Castle Town. We had finally dried off from our jump in the river and our swim through Lake Hylia, but we were getting cold.

"So, this Link guy is the Hero of Time, and disappeared on you three years ago?" Victoria asked me.

"Yeah, unfortunately. I haven't seen him since," I replied. "He never even replied my letters."

"I say you should just forget about him. If he's not bothering to send you back any letters or visit you, then he's not worth it."

"Huh? But he's my best friend."

"What, really? The way you were talking about him, I figured you two were together."

"H-Huh?" I stammered in embarrassment, my face turning a deep red. "N-No, we're just friends!"

"Aw, you're blushing! You really like him, don't you?" Victoria pointed at me with a smug look on her face.

"I'm telling you, we're just friends!"

"Well, some guy he is, running off on a great girl like you."

I frowned, and crossed my arms. "Like I said earlier, he didn't run off on me, he had important things to do, and I couldn't help. But now I'm helping him by becoming stronger."

"Well, next time you see him, give him a good slap in the face. That'll set him straight."

My jaw dropped. "I'm not doing that! That's terrible!"

"Aw man, you're too nice. . . I bet even Uzuki would do that. . . and she's the nice one!"

"And you speak your mind too much!"

We stared at each other for a second, and then burst into laughter.

"Would you two shut up?" Makoto yelled at us from behind. "I swear, I've never heard anything more annoying in my life!"

"Oh, stop complaining, sweetums," Victoria laughed.

"And stop calling me that!"

The two of us burst into laughter again. We could hear Makoto groan in defeat behind us.

"Aw, is Makoto unhappy?" Victoria said in a babyish voice.

"Shut it, Victoria!"

"I just love making fun of that dude," Victoria giggled to me. "He gets mad so easily!"

"Hm, I think he just gets mad at _you_," I giggled back.

* * *

When we finally made it to Castle Town, Victoria gave me a big hug.

"Thank you so much!" Victoria said happily. Makoto was right; she _did_ give big hugs. "I'm so glad I met you!"

"You too, Victoria," I laughed, trying to breath from under her grip.

"Alright, talk to you two later! And say hi to Mimi for me, alright?"

"No problem!"

Victoria waved at us one last time before skipping off for a clothes store. I looked at Makoto, who was staring at his empty wallet.

"Man, I can't believe I lost five hundred rupees to that girl. . ." he sighed.

"Stop whining about it, I'll give you a bit of money when we get back to the base," I said.

He smiled at me, and then stuffed his wallet into his back pocket.

"Shall we get going then?" he asked me.

"Race you there."


End file.
